Immigration Law News
2 December 2013 - Significant changes to legal aid come into force including removal of the uplift in the rate paid for immigration and asylum Upper Tribunal (UT) cases. For more information, click here.
3 December 2013 - Liberia, "It's Nature, Not a Crime:" Discriminatory laws and LGBT people in Liberia. For the full Human Rights Watch report, click here.
Immigration Law Cases
Ghorbanov and Others v Turkey 28127/09 Chambers Judgment [2013] ECHR 1227, 3 December 2013
The applicants in this case are 19 Uzbek nationals who were born between 1969 and 2008 and currently live in hiding in Turkey. The case concerned the deportation of the applicants by the Turkish authorities to Iran. The applicants are members of four families who originally were living in Uzbekistan and who travelled through a number of countries before eventually settling in Iran in 2001 and were granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. However, they fled to Turkey in 2007 where they were granted refugee certificates by UNHCR, received food rations and sent their children to school. The applicants claim that, in 2008, they were invited to go to the police headquarters in Van, Turkey to receive food rations and school stationary where they were detained and forcibly deported to Iran that evening. They returned to Turkey one week later but were collected from their home and deported again. They asked the Iranian gendarmerie for help and were detained for two days and then deported back to Turkey.
It was accepted that there was an Article 3 admissible claim (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) arising from their repeated summary deportation from Turkey to Iran without a deportation order. Further, the applicants also relied upon Article 5(1) and 5(2) (right to liberty and security and right to be informed of the reasons for deprivation of liberty) because their detention prior to being deported from Turkey to Iran had been unlawful due to the fact that they had not been given any reasons for the deprivation of their liberty nor had they any way of challenging the lawfulness of it.
The Court accepted and found that there had been a violation of Article 3 and 5(1) and 5(2) ECHR arising from the deportation of Uzbek nationals, living in Turkey as refugees, to Iran and from the unlawful detention in Turkey prior to their deportation to Iran. For the full judgment, click here.
IM (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2013)
A disappointing judgment from the Court of Appeal concerning a hunger striker in immigration detention. The Court of Appeal decided that the Secretary of State did have the power to detain an appellant, subject to immigration detention, in hospital in order that he receives treatment for his medical condition pending his removal from the United Kingdom. The appellant on hunger strike was not found to be unlawfully detained in breach of detention policy or in breach of Article 2 and 3 ECHR. For the full judgment, click here.
Himanshu Pokhriyal v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Amjad Hussain v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2013)
Two foreign national students succeeded in challenging the Secretary of State's decision, upheld by the Upper Tribunal, that their proposed further courses did not constitute academic progress from their previous studies. The Court of Appeal considered the interpretation of rule 120 B Appendix A of the immigration rules. The Court of Appeal found that the Secretary of State had erred in law in not accepting the confirmation from a sponsoring college that a new course of study was "academic progress" for the purpose of the immigration rules (Appendix A paragraph 120 B) which was an assessment a college was supposed to make. For the full judgment, click here.
Kumar, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 3794 (Admin) (4 December 2013)
The Administrative Court rejected a challenge of a failed asylum seeker and found that neither the overall delay nor broken promises converted maladministration into illegality in the case of a failed asylum seeker who challenged the rejection of his Article 8 (private life) claim as irrational and unfair. For the full judgment, click here.
MS (Coptic Christians) Egypt CG [2013] UKUT 611 (IAC)
The Upper Tribunal issued country guidance on the risk categories for Coptic Christians from Egypt, which give rise to protection claims under the refugee convention and ECHR. For the full judgment, click here.
Nasim and others (Raju: reasons not to follow?) [2013] UKUT 610 (IAC)
The UT decided that it is not legally possible for the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal to decline to follow the Court of Appeal Judgment in Raju v Secretary of State for the Home Department [EWCA] Civ 754. The Tribunal considered the Tier 1 Secretary of State's post-work study policy July 2010 and the relevant date of application of that policy. For the full judgment, click here.
Immigration Law Events
Four-day training - LAA (LSC) 2/OISC 3 Accreditation
Tuesday 7 January 2014 to Friday 10 January 2014, 10:00 to 17:00, London
HJT Training run their four-day training course designed to cater expressly for the various immigration accreditation exams, including the new-style OISC exams. For more information, click here.
Human Rights Update
Thursday 23 January 2014, 16:00 to 19:00, London
CPD: 3 Hours
HJT presents its first human rights update course of the new year. The course aims to update practitioners on the most recent human rights case law and developments relevant to immigration practitioners. For more information, click here.
Immigration Law Books
Garden Court Chambers Immigration Team members are authors of numerous books which we mention from time to time.
Immigration Practice and Procedure in Family Proceedings
This practical new work by Nadine Finch, Omar Shibli, Anthony Vaughan concentrates on the immigration procedures, law and rules relevant to family proceedings. Price: £60.00. For full details click here.
Asylum Law and Practice (2nd edition)
The second edition of Asylum Law and Practice by Mark Symes and Peter Jorro has been published. Price: £138.00. For full details click here.
Fransman's British Nationality Law (3rd edition)
The third edition of Fransman's British Nationality Law, written by Laurie Fransman QC and with contributions from Adrian Berry and Alison Harvey, was published in spring 2011. Price: £295.00. For full details click here.
Macdonald's Immigration Law & Practice (8th edition)
The eighth edition of Macdonald's Immigration Law & Practice was written by Ian Macdonald QC with contributions from many members of the Garden Court Immigration Team. Price: £230.00. For full details click here.
Human Trafficking Handbook
Nadine Finch has contributed to the Human Trafficking Handbook: Recognising Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery in the UK. Price: £36.00. For full details, click here.
