Home Office Discretionary Leave Policy For Victims Of Trafficking Unlawful

London: In a judgement handed down on 3 December 2020, Mr Justice Mostyn has declared that the Home Office policy on discretionary leave 1 as applied to victims of trafficking is unlawful, in that it fails to implement the UK’s obligation to protect victims of trafficking in the National Referral Mechanism during the identification process. The obligation not to remove individuals from the territory following their first stage identification (the ‘reasonable grounds’ decision) while they awaited the second stage of the identification process, (the ‘conclusive grounds’ decision) was not fulfilled if applicants receive no formal recognition of their leave to remain during the process. As per Mostyn J at paragraph 48, ‘Suffering such a person to remain as an overstayer, or as an illegal immigration, does not fulfil the obligation.’ He directed the Secretary of State to ‘formulate a policy that grants such persons interim discretionary leave on such terms and conditions as are appropriate both to their existing leave positions and to the likely delay that they will face.’

Read more: Duncan Lewis Solicitors, https://is.gd/bFhnvf