HCLC News

EUSS Zambrano update – Further challenge

Following the successful challenge in the High Court in 2021, the Home Office had agreed to quash their initial refusal of Ms Akinsanya’s application and remake the decision following any challenge in the Court of Appeal and following their subsequent review of the rules and guidance on Zambrano EUSS applications.

The Home Office announced the outcome of their review on 13 June 2022, and as discussed in more detail in our previous update (29/6/22), they did not change the immigration rules to benefit Ms Akinsanya, who had another form of limited leave at the specified date (31 December 2020) and at the date of her EUSS application.

Following that review, the Home Office have remade the decision on Ms Akinsanya’s application, and it has been refused again.

Further to this second refusal of Ms Akinsanya’s application, her legal team will pursue a further challenge in the High Court. No Hearing date has yet been listed.

Refusals of current applications:

Previous EUSS Zambrano applicants with similar circumstances to Ms Akinsanya are starting to receive refusals from the Home Office of their applications. If you have already applied to EUSS Zambrano and receive a refusal of your application, there are two options available to challenge that refusal:

• an application for administrative review is an internal review conducted by the Home Office. Such an application costs £80 and must be made within 28 days of receiving the decision
• an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber) costs £140 and must be made within 14 days of receiving the decision.

If you are unable to get legal advice before the above deadline to challenge your refusal, you should consider making an application for administrative review or lodging an appeal ‘in-time’ to protect your position while you continue to try to get legal advice. Both are done online and instructions on how to proceed will be included in your decision letter from the Home Office. An administrative review or appeal must be made within the deadline provided.

If you are not able to get legal advice before the deadline, the easier and cheaper of these two options, is to lodge an administrative review (although each case will have its own considerations to take into account). If you choose to apply for administrative review first and that is unsuccessful, you can still make an appeal within 14 days of the administrative review refusal.

Please keep an eye on our website and Twitter for further updates.