Public law update

In Huang (Respondent) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant); Kashmiri (Appellant) v SSHD (Respondent) [2007] UKHL 11, [2007] All ER (D) 338 (Mar) Mei Ling Huang was a Chinese national, who had spent much of the last 14 years in the UK, where most of her family lived. Ali Kashmiri was an Iranian whose immediate family had been granted asylum in the UK. Neither was of an age where any immigration rules regarding dependent relatives applied, and, when refused leave to enter or remain in the UK, each appealed in reliance on Art 8 (the right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). Huang’s appeal was allowed by an adjudicator, but the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) appealed successfully to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. Kashmiri’s appeal was dismissed by an adjudicator and he appealed unsuccessfully to the tribunal.

Proportionality

The two appeals (plus a third, not pursued before the House) had come before the Court