Chapter 8 Updates - September 2021

Family Life

In R (Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 1535 (Admin), Mr Justice Mostyn found that Zambrano carers do not lose their EU law right to reside just because they have permission to remain granted under a route other than Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules. The Home Office is currently applying for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

In FA (Sudan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 59, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that someone applying to stay in the UK under the domestic abuse rules must have had permission to remain as a partner.

The case of Secretary of State for the Home Department v GA & Ors [2021] EWCA Civ 1131 provides that Her Majesty’s Passport Office was wrong to insist on signed consent for child passports from an abusive father overseas. The case was extremely fact-specific, but the High Court judgment offers detailed and valuable guidance on parental consent and on the application of the 1996 Hague Convention. 

The Supreme Court has upheld the policy of treating asylum seekers who claim to be children as adults if two Home Office officials think that the person looks significantly over 18 (R (BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38).

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Home Office’s £1,012 fee for registering children as British citizens is unlawful (R (Project for the Registration of Children As British Citizens & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 193). 

Back to top