Annex
A BRIEF OUTLINE
OF THE
CURRENT APPEALS
PROCEDURE AND
FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS
30. Under the current system, appeals against
Home Office decisions are initially heard by an adjudicator. Adjudicators'
decisions may be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal but
only where the Tribunal has first granted permission to appeal.
If permission is refused, there may be grounds to apply to the
High Court for a statutory review of that decision. The substantive
decision of the Tribunal can be appealed to the Court of Appeal
where grounds exist and ultimately to the House of Lords. In practice
it is common for the Tribunal to remit cases back to a different
adjudicator for a re-hearing.
31. Subject to satisfaction of the means
and merits test, appeals to an adjudicator or the Tribunal are
conducted under Controlled Legal Representation (CLR) which is
part of the Legal Help Scheme. Applications to the High Court
and above would be conducted under a full legal aid certificate.
A BRIEF OUTLINE
OF THE
NEW APPEALS
PROCEDURE
32. From April 2005 all appeals against
Home Office determinations will be heard by the Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal. This is a single tier system. An application for a review
can be initially made to the High Court but only where the AIT
has made an error of law. These applications will go through a
"filter mechanism" where a High Court judge will consider
whether the application should be sent back to the AIT for full
reconsideration. If the High Court refuses there may be grounds
for a review of the High Court decision. Refusal by the AIT on
reconsideration may provide grounds to apply for permission to
appeal to the Court of Appeal. The procedures are illustrated
by the flow chart below which was originally produced by the DCA.
The Law Society
December 2004
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