I have been asked to consider the following question and would be grateful for any help:


Client is young woman waiting for paperwork from the Home Office, but a Solicitor’s letter states that she should be granted appropriate leave to remain following a hearing already held by the Court of Appeal

Should she go ahead and apply for benefits now, or await confirmation from the Home Office

My understanding is that in immigration appeals the tribunal or Court do not actually make the award of status. The tribunal or Court decides what leave the person is entitled to, and then the Secretary of State grants the appropriate leave (or appeals). Accordingly your client should be granted leave, but until the Home Office actually grants that leave she does not have it, despite the Court's decision.

It is only when the Home Office issue the grant of leave that she can apply for benefits on the basis of that leave (or claim backdated IS as an asylum seeker if that is the issue).

And in Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department and another ex parte Anufrijeva the House of Lords confirmed that an administrative decision on asylum was not effective until it was notified to the person concerned.

Though this is clearly not my specialism but i'm sure i have read about cases on here where people have lost benefit through not claiming, because a notification letter is supposed to have been sent to a client but has mysteriously gone astray. Might be worth chasing up the IND or Home Office maybe?