UTIAC (1) A local authority’s obligations to an appellant as an unaccompanied child and asylum seeker and his status as a former relevant child after he becomes 18 do not of themselves determine the outcome of a decision on an appellant’s immigration status but may provide evidence relevant to those issues.
(2) The failure of the Home Office to endeavour to trace family members of a child asylum seeker is only relevant to an immigration appeal after the appellant ceases to be a child , where he is able to show a causal link between that failure and issues relevant to the outcome of the appeal.
(3) For an unaccompanied asylum seeking child, the best durable solution is to be reunited with his own family unless there are good reasons to the contrary. Where reunification is not possible and there are no adequate reception facilities in the home country, an appropriate durable solution may be to grant discretionary leave during the remaining years of minority and then arrange a return to the country of origin. Where the child is of a young age on arrival, cannot be reunited with his family and will spend many years in the host state during his minority a durable solution may need to be found in the host state.
(4) Where the appellant is no longer a minor, the duty on the Secretary of State under s.55 of the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Act 1999 no longer arises but when making the assessment of whether removal would lead to a breach of article 8 all relevant factors must be taken into account including age, background, length of residence in the UK, family and general circumstances including any particular vulnerability and whether an appellant will have family or other adult support on return to his home country appropriate to his particular needs.
(5) In the context of Afghanistan it is also necessary to take into account the guidance in AA (Unattended children) Afghanistan CG [2012] UKUT 16 (IAC) about the risks to unattached children in the light of the reminder in KA (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 1014 in the judgment of Maurice Kay LJ at [18] that there is no bright line across which the risks to and the needs of a child suddenly disappear.
[2013] UKUT 568 (IAC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.536221