Monthly Archives: July 2017

Zimbabwean national with 17years UK residence satisfies the rigorous “very significant obstacles to integration” requirement in both tiers of the Tribunal

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Disappointingly in this case, the  First Tier Tribunal permitted  itself to be persuaded  by the Home  Office  to grant  permission to appeal in relation to an Immigration  Judge’s decision allowing  the Appellant’s Article 8 appeal.

 

Ironically, the same Home Office Guidance on private life which the Secretary of State  relied  upon and which formed the basis of grant of permission, was utilized  to the Appellant’s benefit in the Upper Tribunal – although neither   the presenting officer nor  myself  at the First Tier Tribunal hearing   referred to  it all.  The Immigration Judge made no reference to  the guidance in her decision when allowing the Appellant’s appeal.

 

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Do public disagreements between Zimbabwean focused human/civil rights protest groups in the UK help the genuinely active Zimbabwean asylum claimant?

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I have always admired and continue to admire the various Zimbabwean focused human rights and civil society organisations active in protest in the UK advocating for positive change in Zimbabwe.  Whether or not the UK based activity emanates from well-established groups, newly formed ones  or even  via emergence of  social  media based activity,  the efforts are admirable nonetheless.

 

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Children adequate best interests’ assessment: Whether the Secretary of State has a Section 55(1) proactive duty of enquiry

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It is all about context,  said the Upper Tribunal in Ahmed and Others (deprivation of citizenship) [2017] UKUT 00118 (IAC), in declining to find in that appeal that the Secretary  of State owed a Section 55(1)  proactive duty of enquiry in relation to the  consideration of the  welfare and best interests of the children.

 

The conjoined appeals in Ahmed had their origins in a series of decisions made by the Secretary of State proposing to deprive the Appellants of their British citizenship under section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981. Within the  course  of the appeals however,  the Upper Tribunal had to consider the  content of the duty owed by the Secretary of State under section 55(1) of the 2009 Act in the Appellant’s cases.

 

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