The European Court has issued judgment on the 6th November in the case of HODE AND ABDI v. THE UNITED KINGDOM holding that the UK was in breach of Article 8 & 14 ECHR in respect of treatment between spouses of those granted Refugee protection and those in other categories of the Immigration Rules. The Court followed the path that the Upper Tribunal had started in FH (Post Flight Spouses ) Iran [2010] where it was found that there was no justification for the disadvantageous position of Post Flight Spouses of Refugees. The Tribunal had in that case urgently urged the Secretary of State to amend the existing Immigration Rules to extend to post flight spouses which had been subsequently amended in 2011.

In the Judgement of the European Court, although it was observed that the Rules complained of had been amended, it nevertheless found that the UK had no objective or reasonable justification for the difference in treatment at the time and thus a breach of Article 8 ECHR with Article 14 .

Damages awarded.