The Court of Appeal has issued a damning judgment against the Home Office, ruling that its use of a terrorism-related immigration rule to refuse applications from highly skilled migrants is 'legally flawed' and must be changed.
The ruling, delivered on Tuesday, criticises Home Secretary Sajid Javid for assuming that discrepancies in tax records were due to dishonesty without giving applicants a chance to explain. The court found that the Home Office failed to consider whether dishonesty made an individual's presence undesirable or whether other factors outweighed removal.
The judgment quashes one case and allows three others to appeal. It also mandates that all future uses of paragraph 322(5) must comply with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, giving applicants new protections.
Between January 2015 and May 2018, the Home Office used the rule to force at least 300 migrants to leave, with 87 already gone and 400 more potentially affected. Many had lived in the UK for over a decade and have British children.
A Home Office spokesperson said the court agreed that using paragraph 322(5) is appropriate and that they will consider the judgment carefully.
