The Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision of the Upper Tribunal which ended the right of appeal of extended family members of EEA Citizens

The Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision of the Upper Tribunal which ended the right of appeal of extended family members of EEA Citizens

The Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision of the Upper Tribunal which ended the right of appeal of extended family members of EEA Citizens.

Background: The Upper Tribunal ruled in the case of Sala (Sala (EFMs: Right of Appeal) [2016] UKUT 0411 (1AC)) that the extended family members of EEA nationals will not have appeal rights following refusal of their applications by the Home Office as the First Tier Tribunal inherently lacks jurisdiction to hear these appeals. However, a panel of three Court of Appeal Lord Justices have indicated in the case of Khan-v-SSHD-C9-2016-4413-23 that the Upper Tribunal was wrong to conclude that First Tier Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to hear the appeals of extended family members of EEA nationals in the case of Sala.

In the case of Khan, Lord Justice Irwin states “the issue in this case derives from an earlier case: was Sala wrongly decided? Is there jurisdiction for the First-tier Tribunal to hear an appeal from a refusal by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to exercise her discretion to grant a Residence Card to a person claiming to be an Extended Family Member? At the conclusion of the argument we indicated our view that Sala was wrongly decided. We now give our reasons”.

It is understood that many cases have been pending with the First Tier Tribunal for the decision of this appeal and therefore it is now time for the Tribunals to list the appeals for hearings. However, some commentators observe that these appeals have been pending with the Tribunals for more than a year to be listed for hearings. Therefore, considering the workload of the Tribunals, it may take even longer for the First Tier Tribunals to hear these pending appeals.