An asylum seeker whose case rested on facing persecution in his home country for being gay will not be allowed to return to the UK after it emerged he is now married to a woman. Esmir Demaj was found to have deliberately “misled” the Home Office by not disclosing that he had a wife in the UK while claiming asylum from Albania on the basis that he would face discrimination for being a gay man. Demaj claimed that being returned to his home country would be a breach of his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but after his plea was rejected and he was sent back to Albania, he lodged a second claim asking to join his wife in the UK.
He suggested that his sexuality had “changed” between the two claims, but an immigration judge said that although “sexuality is a spectrum”, the asylum seeker should have informed the Government of his “changed circumstances”. The fact that he hadn’t done so amounted to “misleading” the Home Office, Upper Tribunal Judge Clive Lane said, after also hearing evidence about Demaj “absconding” from immigration authorities, reports The Telegraph.
His first claim was rejected in April 2023, and he lodged a second plea for asylum in the UK months later, which was refused in September 2023.
“[He] had unsuccessfully claimed asylum in the UK on the basis of his claimed homosexuality. He is now married to a woman and claims that his sexuality has changed,” the tribunal was told.
While Judge Lane said “experience shows that sexuality is a spectrum”, the tribunal heard that Demaj’s “committed heterosexual relationship” had coincided with his initial claim of being a gay man.
He then “deliberately chose not to disclose that he was now in a relationship with a woman and had reconciled with his father because he believed it would not assist him [to] remain in the UK”.
The Albanian’s appeal of the refused second claim was ultimately dismissed by the Upper Tribunal of the Asylum and Immigration Chamber and he will not be allowed to settle in the UK.
It comes amid planned clarifications of Article 8 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to respect for a private and family life, after “ad-hoc” interpretations by UK courts, including an Albanian criminal being allowed to stay in Britain partly because his son didn’t like foreign chicken nuggets.
Under plans unveilled in the Government’s immigration White Paper, Paliament will lay out a tighter framework for judges to follow when deciding on such cases, and endeavour to “strike the right balance between individual family rights and the wider public interest”.
The new framework will centrally aim to restrict successful claims from those who “try to get around the rules” and “frustrate and delay” their deportation with false claims, the Government said.
