BA (Nigeria) v Secretary of State
Encyclopedia
BA v Secretary of State was a case heard by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the supreme court in all matters under English law, Northern Ireland law and Scottish civil law. It is the court of last resort and highest appellate court in the United Kingdom; however the High Court of Justiciary remains the supreme court for criminal...

 on the 30 July 2009. The justices were Lord Hope of Craighead, the Deputy President of the Supreme Court
Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, after the President of the Supreme Court...

, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood.

Facts

The case regards BA, a Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n national who first entered the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1988 as a visitor and was given 6 months leave to enter. He was then later given leave to remain as a student until the end of August, 1991, and then on the 25 of May 1994, he was given permanent leave to remain, as per his being married to a British citizen. On 20 May 2005, he was served with a decision by the Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

 that he was to be deported following his release on licence from a 10 year sentence of imprisonment for conspiracy to import class A drugs. He appealed against the asylum and immigration tribunal
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal was a tribunal constituted in the United Kingdom with jurisdiction to hear appeals from many immigration and asylum decisions...

 on human rights grounds and failed. He was served with a deportation order on 25 May 2007. On 25 June 2007 and 8 August 2007 further submissions were made on his behalf as to why he should not be deported. The Secretary of State agreed to consider his reasons for seeking revocation of the deportation order, but she declined to revoke it. Directions were then given for him to be removed from this country on 29 December 2007.

Judgment

The Supreme Court so held in dismissing an appeal by the Secretary of State for the Home Department against a decision of the Court of Appeal allowing the appeal of the claimants, BA, a Nigerian national, and PE, a national of Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

, from a decision of Blake J, sitting in the Administrative Court of the Queen’s Bench Division [2008] 4 All ER 798, that the claimants had no right of appeal exercisable within the UK against the Secretary of State’s refusal to revoke deportation orders made against them. Lord Roger and Lord Brown delivered concurring opinion
Concurring opinion
In law, a concurring opinion is a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different reasons as the basis for his or her decision...

s, Lord Scott agreed and Baroness Hale delivered a dissenting opinion
Dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment....

.

Significance

The court ruled that, contrary to the opinion expressed by the Home Secretary in refusing to rescind the plaintiff's deportation order, an appeal of a refusal to revoke a deportation order did not have to be made from abroad.
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