Supreme Court grants permission in EU law immigration challenge

The UK Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal in Patel & Shah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 2028 – an important case on derivative rights of residence under EU law. The appeal will delineate the scope of the Zambrano right of residence, in light of the CJEU decision in Chavez-Vilchez [2017] 3 WLR 1326.

Thomas Roe QC and Rowan Pennington-Benton act for the appellant, Patel, an Indian national who provides critical full-time care for his dependent British citizen parents in the UK. The Supreme Court will consider, in this context, when it can properly be said that refusal of a visa to the carer, means that the cared-for British citizen will be ‘compelled’ – as opposed to ‘choose’ – to leave the UK with their carer, and therefore to give up their right to reside as a citizen of the European Union.