Ruling confirms the right of refugees who married after fleeing to be joined by their spouses
In the case of Hode & Abdi v. the United Kingdom, which has not yet been finalised, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that there has been a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination), in conjunction with Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The case concerned the refusal to allow a wife to join her husband in the United Kingdom under refugee family reunion provisions. The application was rejected because the couple was not married when the refugee left his county of residence. The wife was also refused leave to enter as the spouse of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom on the grounds that her husband had only been granted five years’ leave to remain, the standard length of time granted to refugees in the UK at the time.
The court found in particular that the difference in treatment between the applicants and other categories of immigrants, such as refugees who had married before fleeing their country, students, or workers, had not been objectively and reasonably justified. In doing so, it relied in part on a decision of the Upper Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration), in which no justification had been found for the particularly disadvantageous position of post-flight spouses of refugees. In that case, the tribunal had called on the Secretary of State to give urgent attention to amending the immigration rules. The rules were subsequently amended in 2011 to permit refugees to be joined by post-flight spouses during their initial period of leave to remain.
The new ruling means that refugees who marry after they have been granted asylum can sponsor their spouse to join them in the UK.
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