R (on the application of Islam) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0088

Parties

Appellant(s)

Ashraful Islam

Respondent(s)

Secretary of State for the Home Department

Issue

Was the Appellant’s visa application invalid, absent a recognition and exercise by the Respondent of a discretion to determine it was invalid?

Facts

The Appellant came to the UK from Bangladesh in January 2023 on a student visa valid until October 2025. He decided to switch to a five-year skilled worker (“SW”) visa. The Appellant received a certificate of sponsorship from his prospective employer on 16 June 2023. He could apply for a SW visa from that date, but did not do so. On 17 July 2023, an amendment to the Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker (“SWA”) was laid before Parliament. It took effect on the same date. This introduced a new provision (“SW1.5A”) to the SWA, which contained criteria limiting visa-switching of this kind by students in the course of their study. On 20 July 2023, the Appellant applied for a SW visa. On 25 July 2023, the Respondent rejected the application as invalid, due to the new criteria in SW1.5A. On 25 October 2023, the Appellant applied for permission to judicially review the Respondent’s decision. The Appellant argued that invalidity was not automatic; under the SWA, the Respondent had a discretion to treat an otherwise invalid application as valid. Until the Respondent properly recognised and exercised that discretion to determine the Appellant’s application was invalid, the application was not invalid. The Upper Tribunal denied the Appellant permission to bring the judicial review, first on the papers and then at an oral renewal of the application. The Court of Appeal upheld those decisions. The Appellant now appeals to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Date of issue

16 May 2025

Case origin

PTA

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