On Wednesday 8 May, Goldsmith Chambers welcomed immigration practitioners to its Spring Update seminar held at BPP Holborn. Samina Iqbal, who is joint-head of the immigration team, chaired the evening and Head of Chambers Anthony Metzer QC opened with a recap of the Banger EFM Regulation 9 and appeal rights litigation, in which he was lead counsel, including its success in the CJEU and the recent Upper Tribunal hearing.
Alexis Slatter, counsel in the recently reported Balajigari, followed with a talk on the impact of the Court of Appeal judgment for 322(5) tax discrepancy cases. The case hopefully signifies the end of the Home Office’s controversial practice of routinely refusing settlement to applicants with discrepancies between income reported to HMRC and in visa applications.
Attendees then heard from Pierre Georget on the implications of the helpful judgment of KV (Sri Lanka) regarding allegations of self-inflicted injury by proxy and the proper approach to medico-legal reports, with particular reference to the practical steps to consider when instructing an expert.
Finally, Lawrence Youssefian gave an update on recent Court of Appeal and Upper Tribunal decisions interpreting the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in KO (Nigeria) on s1176B and 1176C, including AB (Jamaica), RA Iraq and MS Philippines.
As well as the four speakers, Charlotte Bayati (counsel in KV and KO) and Sanaz Saifolahi (counsel in Banger) were available following the presentations to answer questions and discuss the recent changes with attendees over drinks.
