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On appeal from: [2008] EWCA Civ 1420.

The Court considered the question of which immigration rules apply to family members seeking entry to the UK, where the sponsor has been granted asylum and consequently obtained British Citizenship. The appellant, the wife and children of a sponsor who was granted refugee status and later British citizenship, applied for entry clearance to join the sponsor in the UK. The appellants’ applications for entry clearance were refused on the grounds that the family could not meet the accommodation and maintenance requirements imposed by Immigration Rules, paras 281 and 297.  The appellants appealed the decision, arguing that their cases should be considered under paras 352A and 352D, which do not require them to meet any accommodation or maintenance conditions. Held: allowing the appeal of the first to the fifth appellants, that paragraph 352A applied to the first appellant (the Sponsor’s wife) as a spouse of a refugee and paragraph 352D applied to the second to fifth appellants (the Sponsor’s children who were under the age of 18 at the relevant time) as children of a refugee. This was because the sponsor must have been granted asylum in order to be (1) a “refugee” within the meaning of the opening words of para 352A and of para 352E; (2) a “person granted asylum” within sub-paras (i) and (ii) of para 352A and subpara (iv) of para 352D; and (3) a “person who has been granted asylum” within the opening words of para 352D. It was further held that there was not an additional requirement, namely that the “person granted asylum” or the “person who has been granted asylum” must not have become a British citizen before the application for entry clearance is made. The Rules contain no express language to that effect and it is not implicit in the language used. The fact that British citizenship has been granted to the sponsor does not change the fact that the sponsor is a person who has been granted asylum.

For judgment, please download: [2010] UKSC 21
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