Government successfully closes loophole which saw Palestinians use Ukraine scheme

The Government has been successful in its bid to close a legal loophole which meant that Palestinians could avail themselves of a scheme intended for Ukrainian refugees, with the Court of Appeal overturning a previous Immigration tribunal ruling.

As reported by The Telegraph, the original case, back in February, had allowed a family based in Gaza to come to the UK, where the father’s brother already resides. The immigration tribunal had ruled that under the European Convention of Human Rights article 8, protecting the right to a family life, they should be allowed to enter the UK, under a scheme set up in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – despite the scheme having been closed in early 2024. The ruling placed the rights of the family above the “public interest” of rules on UK entry to control immigration.

The family’s application was initially refused in May 2024, when the Home Office decided that they had not met the requirements of the scheme. Their initial legal appeal was dismissed by a tribunal judge, but a further appeal was subsequently upheld by upper tribunal judges.

However, Appeal Court judges have now ruled that immigration tribunals must properly consider the Home Secretary’s rights under the same ECHR article to act with regard to “the economic well-being of the country … or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others”. The Appeal Court also ruled that the family links between the two Palestinian brothers were not strong enough to justify their entry to the UK under Article 8.

The case led to a rare instance of both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition condemning the tribunal’s decision, during a weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the Government was committed to “closing the loophole” which had allowed the Gazan family to come to the UK.