We represented the Appellant who applied for settlement in the UK as she has been here since September 2003. The Appellant was a citizen of South Africa, who arrived on a visitors visa and thereafter became an over stayer. She was in a relationship with a British national, intending to marry soon. She applied for settlement with another firm of solicitors on 6th August 2009 on the basis of medical treatment, mental health issues and under Article 8 of the European Convention. The application was refused on the grounds that the Appellant failed to demonstrate that she was unable to obtain suitable medical care in South Africa. The application was also refused on the basis that her removal would not be in breach of her Article 8 ECHR Human Rights. The Secretary of State argued that most of the period of residence was without leave. Her age and the length of residency did not provide grounds for not removing her. Her ties and domestic circumstances were not sufficiently compelling....

Four year old Katerina* was visiting her aunt in the UK with her mother, when she suddenly collapsed and was rushed to hospital.  The rest of her family in Eastern Europe waited anxiously for news and when it came it was not good.  She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, the prognosis for which was poor unless she could receive intensive specialist treatment of a type unavailable in her home country.  This young child underwent both surgery and acutely necessary courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to prevent the tumour recurrence. At the time her mother came to Danielle Cohen Immigration Solicitors Katerina was a very sick, very vulnerable little girl struggling with nausea and vomiting as a consequence of her treatment.  Her mother, who was pregnant with her second child, was doing her best to be strong and supportive for her beloved child but her pain and anxiety were obvious and only increased by the fact of her separation from the rest of her family and the bleak prospects for her daughter’s future if she had to return to her homeland where the potentially life-saving treatment would not be available....