YAKOVLEVA, PETITION OF v THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT

Introduction [1] In this petition for judicial review, the petitioner Valentya Yakovleva, a citizen of Ukraine, seeks reduction of a decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) dated 14 October 2015. Having refused the petitioner’s application for leave to remain, the SSHD certified that the claim was clearly unfounded which precluded an in country appeal to the First Tier Tribunal. It is the decision to certify which the petitioner seeks to reduce.

The petition [3] The petition narrates an acceptance of the decision relating to family life under the Immigration Rules. In paragraph 9, it is averred that the SSHD left out of account the fact that the petitioner had spent significant amounts of time in the UK between 2007 and 2010. In paragraph 10, the petitioner avers that the SSHD left relevant considerations out of account in reaching a decision on private life under the Immigration Rules, particularly by failing to recognise the difficulty which the petitioner is likely to have in gaining entry clearance in future.

[4] In paragraph 11 the petitioner attacks the SSHD’s assessment outwith the Immigration Rules of the implications of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. It is averred that the SSHD failed:

i) to assess whether the petitioner had family life with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren and whether “that relationship of dependency” amounts to family life;

iii) to consider the nature and extent of the relationships and fails to indicate what weight they were given in assessing proportionality;