Healys Immigration Team Assists Family

In this immigration case, our client, a retail worker, sought our assistance when he and his family came under the threat of deportation from the UK. Our client and his wife, both from Pakistan, had entered the UK illegally years previously and had since built a home and family life together, with the birth of their child.

After a considerable period of time spent living and working in the UK, our client came to the attention of the Home Office whilst working in a retail store and was arrested and detained under Section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This states the provisions under which people who are in the UK unlawfully may be subjected to administrative removal procedures.

Building our client’s case to remain in the UK

To combat the significant risk of our client being deported from the UK, either with or without his family, we submitted a human rights claim under Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights. This declares that every person has the right to respect for their private and family life, home and correspondence. Under Article Eight, the state is obliged to refrain from interfering with an individual’s established family life, such as deporting a family member, subject to certain restrictions and in accordance with the law. We submitted the claim using the FLR(FP) application form which requests permission to extend an individual’s stay in the UK on the basis of family life as a parent.

The core of our argument was that the child of our client had been continuously living in the UK for nine years. This met with the Home Office’s previous Seven Years Child Concession Rule which is now considered a human rights claim. This allows a parent to remain in the UK if the child has lived in the country continuously for at least seven years.

To strengthen our case further, we requested the Home Office consider whether removing the child to Pakistan with his family would be safeguarding the child’s best interests, referring to Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 which states the Secretary of State’s duties regarding the welfare of children. This includes consideration towards the child’s development and optimum life chances to enter adulthood successfully.

The outcome of the case

On the strength of our case, the Home Office decided to grant the family three years discretionary leave to remain in the UK as a family.

If you require further information on the services we provide, please contact the immigration team on 020 7822 4000 or email immigration@healys.old-website.shout-loud.co.uk