Deportation appeal based on family life

Hello there. I am Gemma, and I would be glad to help you understand where you stand with this.

Facing a deportation order is a very stressful experience, especially when you have a family here in the UK. The short answer is yes, you can often challenge a deportation order based on your family life, but the rules are very strict and the Home Office sets a high bar for success.

The legal position:

When you challenge a deportation order based on your family life, you are usually making a human rights claim. This is based on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects your right to respect for your private and family life.

However, UK immigration law balances your right to family life against the public interest in deporting people, particularly if the deportation order follows a criminal conviction.

How the Home Office looks at your family life:

To succeed, you usually need to show you have a genuine and ongoing relationship with a qualifying partner or a qualifying child. A qualifying person is usually someone who is a British citizen or who has settled status, such as indefinite leave to remain, in the UK.

The exact legal test you have to meet depends heavily on why you are being deported, and if it is because of a criminal conviction, how long your prison sentence was.

For sentences of less than four years:

You generally have to prove that deporting you would be unduly harsh on your partner or your child. Unduly harsh means that the impact on your family goes beyond the normal sadness and difficulty that any family would face when a parent or partner is deported. The disruption to their lives has to be exceptionally severe.

For sentences of four years or more:

The rules are much tougher. Showing that it would be unduly harsh on your family is no longer enough. You would need to prove that there are very compelling circumstances over and above the normal exceptions. This is a highly demanding test to pass and usually requires highly unusual or extreme facts.

Important factors to consider:

The Home Office sometimes certifies human rights claims if they believe they are clearly without merit. If they do this, you might not be able to appeal from inside the UK and could be expected to leave the country before your appeal is heard.

Your exact legal options today will depend on some missing details, such as the exact reasons for your deportation, the length of any criminal sentence, the immigration status of your family members, and exactly what notices the Home Office has sent you so far.

Practical next steps:

1. Check your deadlines carefully. The Home Office sets very strict time limits for appealing a decision or making representations. If you are inside the UK, you usually only have 14 days to appeal to the tribunal from the date the decision was sent to you. If you miss this deadline, it becomes much harder to fight the deportation.

2. Read the Home Office letters thoroughly. Look specifically for a decision notice or a notice of intention to deport. This paperwork will tell you exactly what stage you are at and whether you currently have a formal right of appeal or if you need to submit a written human rights claim first.

3. Gather strong evidence of your family life. The Home Office and the immigration tribunals will not just take your word for it. You need solid proof. This means gathering birth certificates for your children, marriage certificates, evidence that you live together like joint tenancy agreements or utility bills, and proof of your family's British citizenship or settled status.

4. Gather evidence of the impact of deportation. You need to show why your family cannot just move to your home country with you, and why it would be unduly harsh for them to stay in the UK without you. Helpful evidence might include independent social worker reports, letters from your children's schools, medical records confirming any health conditions or vulnerabilities your family members have, and evidence of your daily role as a parent or carer.

5. Submit your claim or appeal. If you have been given the right to appeal, you will need to lodge this promptly with the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). If you have only received a notice of intention to deport, you will need to submit a detailed letter with all your supporting evidence explaining why the deportation should not go ahead.

I hope this helps make a very complex area of law a bit clearer for you. Please let me know if you would like me to explain any of those steps in more detail.