A decision not to grant indefinite leave to remain to a 71-year-old Nigerian national was appealed after the judge stated that “the UK is not a retirement home for the rest of the world”.
The appellant’s lawyer submitted that the comment was “belittling to and dismissive of” her client, and “was indicative of the judge’s adverse inclination against her client’s case”. Furthermore, she argued that the judge overlooked the fact the appellant had been entirely self-supporting at all times.
The appellant had hoped to live with her daughter in the UK. The judge said there was no evidence of compelling or compassionate circumstances were she to return to Nigeria.
Mr Justice McCloskey, president of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) upheld the First-Tier tribunal judge’s decision, in Alubankudi (appearance of bias) [2015] UKUT 542 (IAC). He said the judge had been “balanced, considered and neutral” in important passages of the judgment and that “the hypothetical observer” would find “an element of empathy” in the determination.
However, he warned that the judge’s linguistic formula was unfortunate and insensitive. “It had the potential to cause offence and we accept that, in this instance, it did so,” he said. “[S]atements of the kind which stimulated the grant of permission to appeal in the present case should be avoided. The interaction of most litigants with the judicial system is a transient one and it is of seminal importance that the fairness, impartiality and detached objectivity of the judicial office holder are manifest from beginning to end."
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