Court of Appeal hands down judgment in EU free movement case

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment today in Chowdhury v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1220. The appeal raised a novel issue about whether a person could qualify as an extended family member for the purposes of Article 3(2)(a) of Directive 2004/38/EC if there had been a break in their dependency since they had come to the UK. The Court of Appeal accepted the Secretary of State’s argument that: (a) the CJEU had decided in Rahman v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] QB 249 that whether or not a requirement for ongoing dependency could be imposed was a matter for domestic law; and (b) domestic legislation imposed a requirement for ongoing dependency. The Court also decided that even if this was not simply a matter for domestic law, the result would be the same under EU law. Julia Smyth represented the Secretary of State. The Appellant was represented by Ramby De Mello and Tony Muman.