OTS Case Study: Immigration Judicial Review and Right of Appeal – Citizen of Georgia
Client A, a Georgian citizen had entered the UK without a visa in order to be reunited with his wife and daughter in the UK as his attempts to obtain entry clearance were repeatedly unsuccessful. A’s wife was from a different country and had leave to remain in the UK as a Tier 2 (General) worker with their daughter being her dependant. A remained here with his family and established strong ties to the UK. Before instructing our Immigration solicitors, A had applied for his stay on the basis that his removal from the UK would separate him from his family, however the application had been refused.
A approach our head of Immigration, Teni Shahiean to assist with challenging the refusal of his application to stay with his family. Teni Shahiean advised on a judicial review action to cancel the refusal letter and to be granted reconsideration with a right of appeal if the application was rejected following reconsideration. Moreover, evidence was obtained to demonstrate that if removed from the UK, A would be separated from his family for an indefinite period of time due to he and his wife being from different countries and also on the basis that any future entry clearance application to the UK would likely be refused and disproportionately interfere with his family life, as a re-entry ban would apply to any future out of country applications by the client.
With the assistance of Teni Shahiean and our Immigration team a very strong judicial review was launched challenging the Home Office refusal decision, which resulted in permission being granted at the high court and a settlement offer being made by the Secretary of State. By consent order the Home Office agreed A would be given a right of appeal against the refusal.
Following a delay by the Home Office, our team once again challenged the Home Office to give effect to the settlement by consent which it had agreed or to face further litigation by way of a judicial review for undue delay. Further correspondence followed, and our client was then granted a right of appeal. By this time A’s wife had applied for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK which strengthened the appeal grounds and our Immigration tribunal advocates were able successfully obtain the best result at appeal by winning A’s case on all the grounds of appeal put forward in his case.