Meaning of “precarious” status in UK immigration case involving carers

Rhuppiah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 58

The Supreme Court interpreted the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 s117B(5), which stated that little weight should be given to an applicant’s private life if that condition had been established in the UK at a time when his or her immigration status was “precarious”. For the purposes of s117B(5), anyone who, not being a UK citizen, was present in the UK and who had leave to reside there other than indefinitely had a precarious immigration status. The applicant had a complex private life which involved caring for her seriously ill friend for many years, and living in the same house.