Using Family Court Documents In The Immigration Tribunal

• Published date: 25 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Immigration, Family and Matrimonial, Family Law, General Immigration, Divorce
• Law Firm: Richmond Chambers Immigration Barristers
• Author: Ms Harriet Sheves

Although often characterised by the Home Office as a largely administrative process, the reality of many immigration, asylum and nationality applications is that they incorporate diverse and complex legal and personal issues, which must be properly addressed in order to meet the relevant requirements.

One common issue is the use of family court documents in immigration applications or appeals. Many people would expect to be able to do as they choose with documents relating to their own divorce or child care arrangements, but this is not the case. In fact, the family courts have strict rules regarding the type of documents which can be 'published' to third parties, which includes disclosing such documents to the Home Office and immigration tribunals.

This is an incredibly important issue and legal practitioners - or even applicants themselves - who fail to follow these rules can be held 'in contempt of court'.

This article will set out the broad principles which govern the disclosure of documents from family court proceedings in immigration, asylum and nationality applications and appeals.

Why might I need to provide my family court documents in an immigration matter?

The evidential requirements for an application or appeal will always depend heavily on the individual circumstances of the applicant and the relevant requirements for their case. However, there are some common areas where evidence relating to family court proceedings may be relevant. These include:

• Demonstrating freedom to marry;
• Demonstrating 'sole responsibility' for a dependent child;
• Demonstrating a genuine and subsisting relationship with a British child under paragraph EX.1 of Appendix FM;
• Substantiating domestic abuse allegations in an application for ILR or on the basis of Article 8;
• Evidence relating to UK adoptions;

Why can't I do what I like with my own documents?

The reason that the disclosure of family court documents is restricted is because of the nature of family court proceedings themselves. Unlike most other legal proceedings, which are expected to be conducted publicly in the interests of open justice, family court proceedings are generally carried out in private in order to protect the anonymity of any children involved. This is because of the very intimate nature of family court proceedings, which often concern quite sensitive details relating to the welfare and upbringing of the relevant children.

This principle is considered to be so important that nearly all matters...