R (on the application of Agyarko) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (on the application of Ikuga) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 11, [2017] All ER (D) 168 (Feb
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals of two appellant foreign nationals from a decision in which the respondent secretary of state had refused the appellants’ applications for leave to remain under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules and decided that there were no exceptional circumstances to warrant the grant of leave to remain outside the Rules, under Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In so doing it also upheld the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) which had refused to grant them permission to seek judicial review and the decision of the Court of Appeal which had dismissed the appellants’ appeals. In so doing, it considered, among other things, the nature and application of the phrase “insurmountable obstacles”, as used in para EX.1 of Appendix FM to the Rules.
