Aga v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Appeal against Determination of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, which had allowed the Secretary of State's appeal against the Determination of an Adjudicator that the Appellant's removal would breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, on the basis of the family life with his elder brother during the 4 ½ years in which the Secretary of State had taken to determine his claim for asylum as a Kosovan Albanian. The Court of Appeal found that the reasoning of the Adjudicator was flawed, through no fault of his own, by his failure to apply Huang v SSHD [2005] 3 WLR 488. However, the IAT's reasoning was also flawed in that had failed to engage with the real vice in the Adjudicator's decision, which was to equate the situation of the Appellant's brother's claim to remain with his wife with the quite different relationship between the Appellant and his brother, and it failed to take into account the delay in dealing with the Appellant's claim, something which was a relevant factor in considering the proportionality of removal and which had influenced the Adjudicator. Accordingly the matter would be remitted to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for rehearing. Tim Buley appeared for the Appellant, Mr Aga.