UTIAC 1. The function of a court appointed interpreter is to interpret on behalf of the Tribunal what is said at the hearing, including the appellant’s evidence. It is no part of the interpreter’s function to be drawn into a position where he or she has to give ‘evidence’ at a hearing of anything, including the language being spoken by a witness. The AIT’s decision in AA (Language diagnosis; use of interpreters) Somalia [2008] UKAIT 00029 approved and applied.
2. Consequently, in a case where the language spoken by an appellant was relevant to establish his origins (and so to the claim), the judge had not erred in law when he had declined, when requested by the appellant’s representative, to ask the interpreter at the hearing what language the appellant was speaking.
Judges:
Ockleton P, Grubb SIJJ, Holmes IJ
Citations:
[2011] UKUT 337 (IAC)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.444046