CR2-10-02-15-Session2_IMX30_1.mxf

Session: pm
Session date: 2010 Feb 15

CASE ID: UKSC 2009/0126
Case name: ZN (Afghanistan) (FC) and Others (Appellants) v Entry Clearance Officer (Karachi) (Respondent) and one other action
Case summary:
Judgment: The Supreme Court unanimously allows the appeal of the first to the fifth appellants. The Court holds 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. Lord Clarke delivered the judgment of the Court.
Reasons for the judgment: In construing the Rules, the Court agrees with the Court of Appeal that 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. However, the Court does not agree with the Court of Appeal that there is 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 (paras [31]-[33], [36], [37]). In the light of the decision made at the hearing on the construction of paragraphs 352A and 352D, the Court did not hear oral submissions on any of the other issues raised in the written cases. In particular, the Court did not hear argument on what the position would be if, contrary to the Court’s conclusion, paragraphs 352A and 352D would only have applied if they required that the sponsor remain a refugee after being granted British citizenship. The Court expresses no view upon these questions one way or the other (para [40]). Accordingly, the appeals of the first to fifth appellants are allowed.
Hearing start date: 2010 Feb 15
Hearing end date: 2010 Feb 15