The High Court has quashed the Minister for Justice’s refusal to vary Canadian national Jaimee Middelkamp’s immigration permission, finding that the decision gave inadequate reasons and did not address her claim about the impact of separation from her husband.
In a judgment delivered on 22 July 2021, Mr Justice Max Barrett ordered that the application be returned to the Minister for fresh consideration. The court did not itself grant Ms Middelkamp an extension of permission.
Ms Middelkamp entered Ireland in August 2018 on a two-year permission described as non-renewable. Her husband, identified in the judgment as Mr Paul, is also Canadian and was studying dentistry at University College Cork. Ms Middelkamp worked as a legal secretary in Cork. Her permission had been extended to September 2021 under a general Covid-related extension.
In December 2019, she applied under section 4(7) of the Immigration Act 2004 to vary her permission so she could remain while her husband completed his course. The Minister refused the application on 2 January 2020. The decision said that public policy and the common good in maintaining the integrity of the immigration system outweighed the features supporting a variation.
Justice Barrett said those general statements did not explain the essential reasons for the refusal or show what rights had been considered and how they were weighed. He also said the Minister could not add new reasons during the judicial review, including arguments about international arrangements or the Department’s workload, when those reasons were absent from the original decision.
The judge found that Ms Middelkamp’s application had raised Article 8 rights, including the prospect of spousal separation, but the refusal did not meaningfully address them. He rejected the Minister’s position that such rights could be considered later, if Ms Middelkamp overstayed or faced deportation. The judgment said the refusal had closed off her request for a variation and that the rights issue was relevant at that stage.
The court granted certiorari, quashing the 2 January 2020 decision, and remitted the matter to the Minister for fresh consideration. It proposed an order for costs in Ms Middelkamp’s favour, subject to either side notifying the court within 14 days if they objected; the judgment did not record a final costs determination.