Pictured above: Ramby De Mello
The Government's new policy of insisting that spouses and civil
partners of foreign nationals must be able to speak English
suffered a major setback after a ruling by the High Court on
Tuesday, 1st March 2011.
Mr Justice Beatson sitting at the Birmingham Administrative
Court granted permission to apply for Judicial Review to three
Claimants - they had each sought to have their spouses join them in
this country. They are nationals of Pakistan and India and do not
speak, read or write English.
The Claimants had contended that a new amendment to the
Immigration Rules, which was brought in very recently, was
discriminatory as the change of rules applied only to certain
countries and not, for example, to Canada, Australia or the
European Union.
They had also asserted that the Government's Rule meant that
their Article 8 family life and other human rights were breached,
contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Pictured above: Abid Mahmood
In a landmark judgement, Mr Justice Beatson has granted
permission to apply for Judicial Review to each of the Claimants
after a contested hearing. The case is of some significance. The
Government had contended that the English language requirement was
for good reasons stating that, "The new rules will help promote the
economic well-being of the UK, for example by encouraging
integration and protecting public services. It will also assist in
removing cultural barriers, broaden opportunities for migrants and
help to ensure that they are equipped to play a full part in
British life".
The statistics presented to the Court showed that this would
affect many thousands of potential immigrants to the United
Kingdom. Many believe that this was an attempt to reduce the
numbers seeking entry from outside the EU and from outside of the
USA, Canada and Australia. If that was the Government's objective,
this judgement leaves the Government's policy in disarray and
raises yet another question about the Government's effective
commitment to seeing a reduction in the numbers of immigrants that
will be granted entry to the United Kingdom.
The Court has listed the cases for a substantive Judicial Review
hearing over two days on 18th and 19th July 2011.
The Claimants are represented by Mr Ramby De Mello and Mr Abid
Mahmood of No5 Barristers' Chambers and Mr Tony Muman. The
instructing solicitors are Mr S Sharma of JM Wilson & Co
Solicitors and Ms R Shah of the Immigration Advisory Service.