[2024] UKUT 00066 (IAC)

In these appeals we are concerned with the scope of the protection against deportation provided by the WA to those EEA citizens who had resided in the United Kingdom prior to 31 December 2020 and with the scope of protection afforded to such individuals by other domestic legislation. We are concerned also with the mechanism of how decisions to deport EEA nationals can be appealed and on what grounds.

The first issue we must consider is the scope of the WA: does it, as ZA and AS and the Aire Centre submit, apply regardless of whether ZA and AS were exercising Treaty Rights at the end of the implementation period so that they qualify for protection under Article 20 of the WA? Second, if so, should a decision to deport such a person be made under the EEA Regulations? Or, as the SSHD submits, is the correct position that for an individual to benefit from the WA, he or she must have been exercising Treaty Rights and so a decision to deport a person who had not done so should proceed under domestic law? Further, what are the relevant rights of appeal and grounds of appeal? And, does it make a difference if, as the SSHD submits, the test applied under either route is the same?