Dupovac v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 January 2000 |
| Date | 21 January 2000 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Chadwick and Sir Christopher Slade.
Asylum - appeal against refusal of refugee status - abandoned when asylum-seeker left United Kingdom
An asylum seeker's appeal against a refusal by the Home Secretary to grant refugee status was automatically abandoned when the asylum seeker left the United Kingdom.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment, dismissing the appeal of Ms Zinaida Dupovac, an asylum seeker from Bosnia-Herzegovina, against the decision of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal on August 6, 1998 that, under section 33(4) of the Immigration Act 1971, as amended by paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 2 to the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, she had abandoned her appeal against the Home Secretary's decision to refuse her application for refugee status when she left the United Kingdom for a short social visit to Italy.
Section 33 of the 1971 Act, as amended, provides: "(4) … an appeal … shall, subject to any express provision to the contrary, be treated as … ending when the appeal is finally determined or withdrawn or is abandoned by reason of the appellant leaving the United Kingdom…"
Mr Nicholas Blake, QC and Mr Raza Husain for Ms Dupovac; Mr Ashley Underwood for the Home Secretary.
LORD JUSTICE WALLER said that the issue was whether the words "by reason of the appellant leaving the United Kingdom" in section 33(4) of the 1971 Act, as amended, meant that leaving the UK was merely permissive or presumptive of abandonment of an appeal, or whether they meant that leaving was determinative of abandonment.
In 1994 the Home Secretary had refused to recognise Ms Dupovac as a refugee but had granted her exceptional leave to remain in the UK.
In 1995 she had applied for her status to be upgraded to that of refugee. That application had been refused but Ms Dupovac had been granted further exceptional leave to remain until January 26, 1998.
In March 1997, Ms Dupovac had embarked from the UK on a travel document which the Home Secretary had provided. She had travelled to Italy for a short social visit and had returned to the UK during the currency of her extant leave after approximately two weeks.
As a result, the Home Secretary had deemed Ms Dupovac to have abandoned her appeal.
Mr Blake had submitted that the 1971 Act should be strictly construed against the Home Secretary so as to limit the...
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R Mm (Ghana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
...said at paragraph 13: "The true meaning of 'leaves' in s58(8) is an open question – see the concluding remarks of Waller and Chadwick LJJ in Dupovac [2000] IAR 265. I will assume for the purposes of this judgment, as Miss Webber has assumed for the purposes of her argument, that departure f......
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Shirazi v Secretary of State for the Home Department
...the appellant. 13 The true meaning of "leaves" in s.58(8) is an open question: see the concluding remarks of Waller and Chadwick LJJ in Dupovac [2000] Imm AR 265. I will assume for the purpose of this judgment, as Ms Webber has assumed for the purpose of her argument, that departure from th......