In July 2022, the Immigration Appeals Board upheld an appeal against a decision by the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS), ruling it ultra vires, and ordered the release of two minors from Bangladesh and their return to the Dar Il-Liedna open shelter for unaccompanied children.
The two applicants had been rescued at sea by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) and were directly taken to detention in Ħal Far. They were released on the 21st of June 2022 after being confirmed as minors following an interview with social workers from the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS). However, on the 28th of June 2022, the two minors were arrested by the Immigration Police, who entered the shelter for minors, and were taken back to the detention centre on the ground that they had allegedly found evidence that they were not minors. On the same day AWAS issued a reassessment decision regarding their age without informing the minors.

The Immigration Appeals Board (IAB) noted that no evidence had been presented by AWAS in support of their claim that the appellants were not minors. It further noted that that the Principal Immigration Office (PIO) had no locus standi in age assessment proceedings and that AWAS had no legal competence to vary or review an age assessment decision after such decision had been pronounced. It was evident that the decisions issued by both AWAS and the PIO, the former being the Agency responsible for the guardianship and the protection of the rights of minors and the latter under the obligation to act within legal parameters and procedures, were ultra vires and contrary to the law to the detriment of the minors.

In view of above, the Board revoked the reassessment on the basis that it was ultra vires and confirmed that the applicants were minors, as per the original decision taken by AWAS. The Board ordered that the minors were to be released from detention immediately and returned to the shelter for unaccompanied minors.