Upper Tribunal: Immigration and Asylum Chamber judgments, 2014

A person is entitled to the benefit of a published policy only where that policy is applicable to the person concerned. Under Abdi [1995] EWCA Civ 27, the…

Following transfer of an immigration judicial review from the Administrative Court, the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008 govern all future…

In an asylum credibility assessment, the benefit of the doubt is not a rule of law. It is a defeasible guideline which adds nothing substantive to the lower…

Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 requires an immigration decision-maker to be properly informed about every affected child and…

A judicial review claimant must pursue an available statutory immigration appeal unless special or exceptional circumstances, supported by evidence, make that…

A Tier 4 student’s leave may be subject to a condition restricting study to the institution recorded as the student’s sponsor. The Immigration Rules may impose…

A tribunal judge must maintain an open mind until the adjudicative process has concluded. A premature indication that the judge has effectively decided a…

A policy which mandates a no-recourse-to-public-funds condition unless specified criteria are met is a rule concerning conditions of leave. It must be laid…

There is no preliminary threshold which must be met before an Article 8 claim outside a criterion-based Immigration Rule is considered. The decision-maker must…

Applicants must meet both the substantive financial requirement and the mandatory specified-evidence requirements in Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE. The…

An application completed online but required to be printed and brought to a premium-service appointment is not thereby submitted online. Under Immigration…

Where an application for leave to remain was made before 9 July 2012 and remained undecided, the transitional provision in HC 194 requires it to be decided…

Where a public authority concedes in judicial-review proceedings that its decision was unlawful and undertakes to correct it, the claimant may properly be…

Where an earlier unlawful failure to grant discretionary leave amounts to a significant historic disadvantage, the decision maker must treat that disadvantage…

Leave extended under section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 remains the leave originally granted; it is not a distinct form of leave conferred independently by…

A finding that a marriage is one of convenience requires procedural fairness. The person concerned must ordinarily be told the essential substance of the case…

A refusal of leave to remain under ECHR, Article 8 is unlawful where the decision-maker treats inapplicable Immigration Rules criteria as determinative and…

A decision on private-life representations must engage rationally and expressly with the material relied upon. A formulaic refusal under paragraph 276ADE…

A substantive legitimate expectation requires an unambiguous and unqualified promise, representation or assurance by the public authority. The communication…

Pending or potential Family Court proceedings do not, without more, require an immigration appeal to be adjourned or discretionary leave to be granted. The…

An applicant relying on paragraph 276ADE(vi) of the Immigration Rules must provide evidence that he has no social, cultural or family ties with the country of…

EU rights of residence exist independently of an application for residence documentation. In an Article 8 assessment, a decision-maker must take account of an…

An EEA national may be deported on public-policy or public-security grounds only where their current personal conduct establishes a genuine, present and…

Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, section 29 gives the Upper Tribunal a discretionary wasted-costs jurisdiction in all proceedings. It may be…

An adjournment application must be determined by reference to the overriding requirement of fairness. Under rule 21(2) of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal…

For a foreign criminal sentenced to at least four years’ imprisonment, paragraph 398(a) of the Immigration Rules prevents reliance on paragraphs 399 and 399A.…

On an appeal alleging error of law, a party must address the legal threshold governing the underlying decision. A tribunal is not required to record and…

An application for permission to appeal must identify the alleged errors of law clearly, coherently and with sufficient particulars. Formulaic assertions that…

The common-law duty of fairness concerns procedural fairness. It does not impose a free-standing duty on an immigration decision-maker to reach a substantively…

A First-tier Tribunal need not rehearse every item of evidence or argument. It must, however, identify and resolve the key conflicts in the evidence and give…

A legacy-programme case was not subject to an amnesty. It had to be decided under the applicable Immigration Rule and the chapter 53 guidance in force when the…

A defect in an initial immigration decision may be cured by a later supplementary decision where the decisions, read together, adequately address the relevant…

In automatic-deportation cases, the appeal lies only against the Secretary of State’s decision that section 32(5) applies, not against the deportation order…

In a Points Based System appeal, the restriction on fresh evidence in section 85A(4) applies to evidence bearing on a points-scoring requirement. That remains…

In the deportation of a foreign criminal, proportionality under article 8 requires a genuine balance between the individual and family factors and the very…

For the purposes of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, whether an asserted spouse of an EEA national is in a marital relationship must…

A document is not in the wrong format merely because it omits information which the applicable evidential rule requires it to contain. Under Immigration Rules…

For Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applications relying on third-party funds, the specified-document requirements in Immigration Rules, Appendix A, must be met. A bank…

Immigration Rules requirements for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) evidence must be construed reasonably and in context. A third-party bank letter need not guarantee…

A judicial review claim should be dismissed where the relief sought and the alleged issue of wider importance have become entirely academic. A procedural…

For refusal under paragraph 322 of the Immigration Rules, information is not “false” merely because it is inaccurate. It must be dishonestly false. A…

A removal decision under Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, section 10, is not unlawful merely because it does not expressly explain why curtailment or another…

Doctors preparing medico-legal reports on alleged torture must consider all possible causes of scarring, while remaining within their clinical expertise.…

A conviction resulting in an absolute or conditional discharge is, by section 14(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, deemed not to be a…

In an Article 8 immigration appeal, a tribunal may identify the relevant legitimate aim from the material before it even where the Secretary of State did not…

For paragraph 352AA(ii) of the Immigration Rules, the requirement that parties have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage or civil…

Periods of residence completed before the United Kingdom joined the European Community, and before domestic EEA regulations took effect, may count as…

Rule 45 of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005 gives the First-tier Tribunal discretionary procedural case-management powers. It does…

Under section 47 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2006, as amended, the requirements in section 47(1A)(a)(i) and (ii) qualify the application for…

For the purposes of paragraph 41-SD of Appendix A to the Immigration Rules, a requirement to provide contracts showing trading does not require every contract…

Under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, the Secretary of State may lawfully conclude that further submissions do not amount to a fresh claim where…

For the self-employment financial requirement in Appendix FM, the relevant financial year is the tax year. It is not an accounting year selected by the…

In immigration judicial review proceedings, the Tribunal may ordinarily defer its initial paper consideration until six weeks after service of the claim on the…

Judicial review will ordinarily be refused where a pending statutory appeal provides a convenient and effective alternative remedy. The existence of that…

A jurisdictional decision made by the First-tier Tribunal in a determination after the rule 9 screening stage is appealable to the Upper Tribunal. A decision…

A material error of law may arise from procedural unfairness even where the First-tier Tribunal acted reasonably and was not at fault. The question is whether…

The Secretary of State may withdraw an immigration decision without the Upper Tribunal’s consent. Rule 17 of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008…

Paragraph EX.1 of Appendix FM is not a free-standing route to leave to remain. It operates only within the alternative route in paragraph R-LTRP.1.1(d), whose…

Where a deportation decision rests solely on a conviction following a guilty plea, the immigration tribunal must ordinarily accept the facts contained in the…

Where a party’s or witness’s face is substantially covered by religious attire, a tribunal must fairly balance the individual’s religious beliefs, the proper…

In an age-assessment judicial review, the Tribunal must determine the applicant’s age as a fact. The standard is the balance of probabilities, but neither…

Article 8 of the ECHR is not a general power to relax the Immigration Rules. A former student’s wish to obtain post-study work, employment experience or an…

In judicial review of a decision that further representations do not amount to a fresh asylum claim, the question is whether the Secretary of State…

For EU free-movement purposes, whether a person is a spouse of a Union citizen is determined, where it is disputed, by the national law of the Member State of…