Barrister acting pro bono successfully assists a mother in the Court of Appeal

Advocate panel member Dr Niaz Shah of Nexus Chambers has successfully helped a mother in the Court of Appeal to have her appeal for her application for an EEA family permit to be reconsidered after initially being refused by both the First-tier and Upper Tribunals.

The mother is a citizen and resident of Pakistan who has four children, three of whom are British nationals. Her eldest son is a national of Ireland. She was granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom as a spouse in 2001 and left the United Kingdom in 2012, currently living in Pakistan with three of her four children.

She made an application under the 2016 Regulations that govern admission to the United Kingdom in December 2020 for an EEA family permit. Her application was on two grounds: one was that she was the primary carer of a British national child who would be entitled to reside in the United Kingdom. The second was that she was a financially dependent relative of her fourth and eldest child – an EEA national.

The application for the permit was refused on the basis of her claimed financial dependency on her eldest child. The mother appealed to the First-tier Tribunal on the ground that the basis that she was a primary carer had been failed to be considered. The First-tier Tribunal did not deal with that aspect of her appeal, finding that the mother was not dependent upon her eldest son, and so dismissed the appeal. The mother appealed to the Upper Tribunal, which concluded that this was a new matter not raised previously, and so dismissed the appeal.

With nowhere else to turn, the mother applied to Advocate for help to present her case to the Court of Appeal. Her appeal was on the ground that the First-tier Tribunal had failed to consider her claim that she was entitled to an EEA family permit as a primary carer of British national children.

Niaz Shah of Nexus Chambers volunteered to assist. He drafted the skeleton arguments and represented her at the hearing in the Court of Appeal to address her permission to appeal.

The Court of Appeal determined that the mother was entitled to have the First-tier Tribunal consider her application on the basis that she is a primary carer, and to determine whether she can be granted an EEA family permit in accordance with the 2016 Regulations. The Judge said that the appeal against the failure of the First-tier Tribunal to determine those issues was not dealt with when she appealed to the Upper Tribunal.

The appeal was therefore allowed, with the matter now remitted to the First-tier Tribunal to determine those issues.

We would like to thank Niaz Shah for all his hard work assisting on this case pro bono. He commented:

“It is very encouraging that the court (and even family and friends) appreciates pro bono assistance”.

The judgement is available to read here.

Advocate assists pro bono in all areas of law in all Courts and Tribunals. Find out more about taking on a case with Advocate.