MR (Pakistan) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant)
Wednesday 25 February 2026
The Secretary of State for the Home Department appeals the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), issued on 24 February 2025.
The Respondent entered the UK as a student in 2006 and overstayed. After an unsuccessful human‑rights application in 2012. He made a further claim in 2017 based on risk due to his sexuality as a homosexual, which was refused. His appeal was dismissed by the First‑tier Tribunal and upheld by the Upper Tribunal. A fresh claim was accepted in 2023 but again refused.
The First‑tier Tribunal later allowed his appeal which the Secretary of State did not challenge. The Upper Tribunal set that decision aside, holding it was procedurally unfair because the Secretary of State had not been given the chance to test the evidence, and remitted the case for a new hearing.
The question is whether the Upper Tribunal was wrong to find procedural unfairness when the First‑tier Tribunal considered the Secretary of State to have implicitly accepted the appellant’s sexuality, meaning a further hearing should not be required.