Kelechi Cecelia Obi, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Departments

Facts

The claimant, a Nigerian national, entered the United Kingdom on or about 16 September 2023 as a student at Leeds Beckett University, accompanied by her husband and their three year old son as dependants. On 15 February 2025 she applied for leave to remain as a skilled worker after Renaissance Nurseries assigned her a certificate of sponsorship as a nutritionist at a gross salary of £26,000, and leave was granted on 14 May 2025 until 4 March 2028. Her case was that the employment proved a pretext for exploitation: she was made to pay for her own application and some of the employer's expenses, to work part-time hours below the promised minimum, to pay both her own and the employer's tax liabilities, and to withdraw and return her salary to the employer on receipt. When she questioned these practices she was dismissed, receiving notification on 19 May 2025; the employer notified the Home Office the following day that sponsorship had ceased. On 12 August 2025 the defendant cancelled her leave and her dependants' leave-in-line under Part 9.27.1(d) of the Immigration Rules, with a 60-day grace period. She was then pregnant; her baby was born early and died on 26 September 2025. Following a police referral, the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority made a negative reasonable grounds trafficking decision on 10 September 2025. She issued two judicial review claims in November 2025, brought within a single action under CPR 7.3, with permission granted on all grounds.