I am about to be deported. Does this affect my human rights?
If you are notified by the Home Office that it is considering deportation proceedings you should obtain legal advice from an immigration law specialist as soon as possible. You can obtain details of solicitors in England and Wales from the Community Legal Services Helpline on 0856 608 1122.
Deportation is not usually as a result of a failed asylum application. It is more often attached to a criminal sentence.
In criminal cases for which the maximum sentence is a prison term, the court has the power to recommend deportation as part of the criminal sentence for persons aged over 17. In addition to this, the Home Office may deport a person on the ground that their presence in the United Kingdom is ‘not conducive to the public good’. It can do so on the basis of criminal offences even if the Court made no recommendation for deportation.
If you have an established personal and family life in the UK (for example, if you have children living and settled in the UK), you may be able to raise Article 8 arguments. However, the courts have been reluctant to find that deportation is a violation of Article 8. Where there is an alternative country in which the husband and wife or family can reside and there are no ‘insurmountable obstacles’ to moving there, or where a person could return to their country of origin and obtain entry clearance as a family member in the ordinary way without risk or excessive delay it is unlikely the court will find there has been a violation of Article 8.
Even if Article 8 is engaged it is not an absolute right and can be restricted in certain circumstances so long as the interference is in accordance with the law, in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary in a democratic society. The courts in general feel that enforcing immigration controls is a legitimate objective. However, if in your case the interference with your family life is particularly severe, the courts may consider that deportation will be a disproportionate interference with your right to family life, and so be in breach of your human rights.
Deportation is not usually as a result of a failed asylum application. It is more often attached to a criminal sentence.
In criminal cases for which the maximum sentence is a prison term, the court has the power to recommend deportation as part of the criminal sentence for persons aged over 17. In addition to this, the Home Office may deport a person on the ground that their presence in the United Kingdom is ‘not conducive to the public good’. It can do so on the basis of criminal offences even if the Court made no recommendation for deportation.
If you have an established personal and family life in the UK (for example, if you have children living and settled in the UK), you may be able to raise Article 8 arguments. However, the courts have been reluctant to find that deportation is a violation of Article 8. Where there is an alternative country in which the husband and wife or family can reside and there are no ‘insurmountable obstacles’ to moving there, or where a person could return to their country of origin and obtain entry clearance as a family member in the ordinary way without risk or excessive delay it is unlikely the court will find there has been a violation of Article 8.
Even if Article 8 is engaged it is not an absolute right and can be restricted in certain circumstances so long as the interference is in accordance with the law, in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary in a democratic society. The courts in general feel that enforcing immigration controls is a legitimate objective. However, if in your case the interference with your family life is particularly severe, the courts may consider that deportation will be a disproportionate interference with your right to family life, and so be in breach of your human rights.
