[2024] UKUT 00393 (IAC)

The Appellant is a national of Portugal, born on 26 October 1992 who entered the United Kingdom initially in January 2014 as a young adult. He has a number of criminal convictions in the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2022, which are set out below as part of his history in the United Kingdom.

On 17 May 2016, the Appellant was convicted of six offences of criminal damage and one of possession of a knife in a public place (offences committed on various dates in March 2016), for which he was sentenced on 7 June 2016 to a community order with a rehabilitation requirement; together with a victim surcharge of £60 for one of the offences.

The Appellant made an application for status under the EU Settlement Scheme (the “EUSS”) on 31 October 2019. That application was rejected on 2 June 2020 because he had not provided a required identity document.

On 24 September 2020, the Appellant was convicted of one offence of criminal damage and of assault of an emergency worker, for which he received a fine of £80 and had to pay costs, a victim surcharge and a fine. The Appellant was also the subject of a restraining order – protection from harassment.

2 October 2020, the Appellant was convicted of harassment (breach of restraining order) for which he was sentenced on 5 November 2020 to a period of imprisonment of 16 weeks.

On 22 October 2020, the Appellant was convicted of exposure, with a sentence of imprisonment of 16 weeks given on 5 November 2020 (consecutive to the above sentence given on the same date) and he was required to sign the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.

The Respondent sent a warning letter to the Appellant on 26 November 2020 as to his future conduct and the possibility of consideration of deportation action should he come to the adverse attention of the Home Office again; but confirming that no further action would be taken at that point.

On 15 April 2021, the Appellant was convicted of one offence of criminal damage, two offences of assaulting an emergency worker, one offence of harassment and one public order offence. In total he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 26 weeks (with individual sentences ranging from 14 days to 18 weeks, some to be served consecutively).

The Respondent served the Appellant with a stage one deportation notice on 2 May 2021 (albeit the document itself is dated 27 April 2021). The letter begins with a recitation of the Appellant’s criminal offences, starting with his conviction on 15 April 2021 and then listing previous convictions between 2016 and 2020 in chronological order. The letter expressly states as follows:

“The Secretary of State has deemed your deportation to be conducive to the public good and accordingly it is in the public interest that you be removed from the United Kingdom without delay. Therefore, the Secretary of State has decided to make a deportation order against you under section 5(1) of the Immigration Act 1971.”

In part 2 of the decision, the Respondent states:

“You have been convicted of criminal offences as set out in part 1 of this letter. The Secretary of State deems your deportation to be conducive to the public good under section 3(5)(a) of the Immigration Act 1971 as set out in part 1 of this letter. In this part you will find details of various additional considerations that were taken into account as part of this decision.”

The additional factor then referred to is the Appellant’s immigration history, that he arrived in the United Kingdom in 2014. A note then followed as to his liability to detention and next steps.

In response to this letter, the Appellant made representations against deportation based on family life and mental health issues on 13 May 2021.

The Appellant made a further application for status under the EUSS on 25 July 2021.

On 18 October 2021, the Respondent made the two decisions which are the subject of this appeal, the refusal of the Appellant’s human rights claim in the context of deportation and the refusal of his EUSS application. We return below to the detailed reasons for each decision.

On 13 July 2022, the Appellant was convicted of one offence of failing to comply with notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and two offences of battery; for which he was sentenced in total to imprisonment for 24 weeks (the two sentences of 8 weeks each for battery to be served concurrently) and two orders for compensation of £250 each.

On 1 September 2022, the Appellant was convicted of assault (committed on 4 July 2022) for which he was sentenced to four weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation of £100.

On 23 September 2022, the Appellant was convicted of criminal damage (offence committed on 28 May 2022), for which he was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation of £150.

The Appellant was deported to Portugal on 20 October 2022 following an unsuccessful attempt to challenge the certification of his claim under Regulation 16 of the Immigration (Citizens Rights Appeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 and certification of his human rights claims as clearly unfounded pursuant to section 94(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. The certification elements do not raise any ongoing issues in the context of the present appeals and therefore the detail is not referred to in this decision.