Akpan, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

For paragraph 276ADE(vi) of the Immigration Rules, whether an applicant has "no ties" with the proposed country of return is an exacting, rounded evaluative assessment. It asks whether the applicant retains a continued connection to life in that country which may support resettlement there.

The factors identified in Ogundimu [2013] UKUT 60 (IAC) are relevant considerations, not a mandatory checklist. Existing personal relationships are not invariably decisive. Time spent in the country, age on departure, and retained familiarity with its customs may rationally support a finding of continuing ties, particularly where the application contains only unsupported assertions to the contrary.

Ms Akpan, a Nigerian national, entered the United Kingdom aged 14. Her earlier asylum and human-rights appeals had been dismissed. In 2013 she applied for leave to remain on private-life grounds under paragraph 276ADE(vi) of the Immigration Rules, asserting that she had no family, friends, social or cultural ties in Nigeria.

The Secretary of State refused the application. A Deputy High Court judge quashed that refusal as irrational, holding that memories, childhood residence and cultural knowledge did not amount to ties without an active relationship in Nigeria. The Secretary of State appealed. The central issue was the proper meaning of "no ties (including social, cultural or family)" in paragraph 276ADE(vi), and whether the refusal was irrational on the material supplied.

1. Appeal allowed. Sales LJ, with whom David Richards LJ and Sharp LJ agreed, held that the Deputy High Court judge had adopted an unduly narrow construction of paragraph 276ADE(vi) of the Immigration Rules. The Secretary of State’s refusal was lawful and the judicial-review claim was dismissed.

2. The phrase "no ties" requires an exacting and rounded assessment of all relevant circumstances. Following the guidance in Ogundimu [2013] UKUT 60 (IAC), as approved in YM (Uganda) [2014] EWCA Civ 1292, the inquiry is whether the applicant has a continued connection to life in the country of return that could assist resettlement. It is not confined to social, cultural and family matters, although those matters may be important.

3. The factors identified in paragraph [125] of Ogundimu were illustrative. They did not create a checklist, nor did they require a decision letter to address every factor. The Deputy Judge therefore erred in treating an active relationship in Nigeria as necessary before ties could be found. Residence there until age 14, and a retained basic understanding of its customs and how to function in society, were capable of supporting a finding of ties.

4. Ms Akpan had supplied only bare assertions that she had no family or friends in Nigeria. On that limited material, the Secretary of State could rationally conclude that she had not demonstrated the absence of ties required by the rule. An applicant must provide the materials on which they seek to rely; the Secretary of State was not required to locate and consider the earlier Tribunal determinations when they had not been submitted with the application.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Allowed the Secretary of State’s appeal and restored the refusal of leave to remain: [2015] EWCA Civ 1266.
• High Court, Administrative Court: A Deputy High Court judge had quashed the Secretary of State’s refusal under paragraph 276ADE(vi) of the Immigration Rules.
• Asylum and Immigration Tribunal: Ms Akpan’s earlier appeal was dismissed in 2007 and the dismissal was maintained on reconsideration. Those determinations were not relied on in her later application.