by freemovement on 14 December 2011
As previously highlighted on this blog, fees are to be introduced for immigration appeals. The date has now been set for this to begin: for notices of decision dated 19 December 2011 or later.
Strangely, as far as I can see, you won’t find anything about this on the Immigration and Asylum Chamber website. One might have thought some forewarning for litigants and their lawyers might be useful there in order to avoid invalid appeals come commencement. There is a short item about it on the UKBA website, at least.
The headlines are that, for now, the moment fees will only apply in the First Tier Tribunal and that the fees are set at the following levels:
- £80 where there is no hearing
- £140 with a hearing
Fees are likely to rise over time and may be introduced in the Upper Tribunal at a later date.
A number of types of appeal and appellant are exempted from paying fees, including for deportation appeals, removal of illegal entrant or overstayer appeals, EEA appeals and appellants on asylum support. See the fees order paragraph 5 for the full list (link below).
The tribunal can award the cost of the appeal fee to a successful appellant against UKBA.
Also note that it will generally only be possible to lodge appeals with the tribunal itself for notices of decision dated 19 December 2011 or later. It will no longer be possible to lodge appeals with the entry clearance post abroad. It will still be possible for a detained person to lodge their appeal with their custodian, however.
For the more curious amongst you, the following links may be useful:
- First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Fees Order 2011: sets level of fees, exemptions, method of payment and so forth
- Tribunal Procedure (Amendment) (No.2) Rules 2011: amends the procedure rules including to strike out provisions where fees are not paid, for the tribunal to award the cost of the fee and to end lodging of appeals with ECOs