Mishcon de Reya has recently challenged the Home Office's decision to refuse the applications of a 10-year-old Ukrainian girl and her adult stepbrother, to allow them to enter the UK under the 'Homes for Ukraine' Scheme.
After applying to come to the UK with 6 other family members in August 2022, their applications were refused in May 2023, which meant that they were separated from the rest of their family whose applications had already been approved. The rest of the family made the difficult decision to travel to the UK as they were concerned that their own permission would no longer be valid if they left it too long and did not enter the UK.
However, once they arrived, the family in the UK were not issued with their long-term visas to allow them to leave and re-enter the UK in order to visit our clients, who were outside of the UK. The 10-year-old girl was therefore separated from her family for several months, despite never having spent time away from her mother and sisters previously and already having fled her home following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
After seeking to overturn the refusals by reaching out to the Home Office directly, Mishcon de Reya commenced Judicial Review proceedings against the Home Office to challenge both the delay in issuing the family's long-term visas required to travel and the Home Office's decision to refuse our clients' applications. The Home Office put forward an alternative route for our clients to come to the UK, offering to grant leave outside the Rules (LOTR), and agreed to recover costs.
Our clients are now in the UK reunited with their family and are delighted with the result following the Home Office's unfair refusal.
Immigration Partner Maria Patsalos led the Mishcon de Reya team, with support from Managing Associate Lucy Humphreys, Associate Lydia Stephenson-Slater and Paralegal Besa Mataj.