SM (Algeria) v Entry Clearance Officer

SM (Algeria) v Entry Clearance Officer

[2018] UKSC 9; C-129/18 · Court of Justice of the European Union

What happened: UK proceedings concerned a child cared for under Algerian kafala, a form of guardianship that is different from adoption. The issue was whether she could join her guardians under European free movement rules. The UK Supreme Court referred questions about those rules to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

What the court decided: The European court decided that kafala did not make the child a 'direct descendant' for those rules. However, her position had to be assessed under the separate route for other family members. That required consideration of the actual family relationship; the decision was not simply a finding that she had no possible route.

Why it matters to adoptees: People brought up in another family may have been told they were adopted even when the legal arrangement was guardianship or something else. This case illustrates why identifying the precise arrangement matters for documents, residence and legal status. It concerns the European rules applicable at that time, not an automatic present day UK immigration entitlement. The subsequent UK outcome has not yet been verified in this database.

Limitations: Kafala is guardianship, not adoption. This concerns historical EU free movement law, not an automatic present day UK immigration entitlement. Subsequent UK disposition remains to be checked.