Da Silva Pinho (FtT - jurisdiction)

What was at stake

A Portuguese national challenges the jurisdiction of the First‑Tier Tribunal over their immigration claim.

What happened

Hamilton Jorge da Silva Pinho, a Portuguese national, was served with a deportation decision and a refusal of his human‑rights claim on 16 January 2024. He lodged a notice of appeal only against the deportation decision under the CRA Regulations 2020. The First‑tier Tribunal then attempted to hear the human‑rights appeal, but the Upper Tribunal held that, because no notice of appeal had been filed for the human‑rights decision, the FtT had no jurisdiction to determine it.

What the court decided

The First-tier Tribunal has no inherent jurisdiction; filing a valid notice of appeal against each relevant decision is fundamental to commencing proceedings and activating the FtT's statutory powers under the Procedure Rules. The appellant (da Silva Pinho) had filed a notice of appeal only against the deportation/EUSS decision, not against the separate 16 January 2024 human rights refusal, so the FtT had no jurisdiction to determine the human rights appeal, and its allowance of that appeal on Article 8 grounds was ultra vires. The Upper Tribunal set aside the FtT's decision and remitted, requiring proper notices of appeal (and time extensions) before the human rights claim could be heard.

How the court got there

The Upper Tribunal reasoned that the FtT’s jurisdiction is conferred only by statute and is triggered by a valid notice of appeal under Rule 19 of the FtT Procedure Rules. Without such a notice for the human‑rights decision, the FtT could not exercise adjudicative jurisdiction and any determination was ultra vires. Consequently the FtT’s decision was set aside and the matter remitted for a properly filed appeal.

Statutes and cases cited

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