United Kingdom Immigration and Asylum (AIT/IAC) Unreported Judgments

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IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM CHAMBER	Case No: UI- 2024-001080
	First tier number: EA/01586/2023

 

THE IMMIGRATION ACTS

Decision & Reasons Issued:

 

On 7 ^th of February 2025

 

Before

 

UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE BRUCE

 

Between

 

SAJEELA QAMAR

Appellant

AND

 

ENTRY CLEARANCE OFFICER

Respondent

Representation :

 

For the Appellant: -

For the Respondent: Mr McVeety, Senior Home Office Presenting Officer

 

 

Heard at Manchester Civil Justice Centre on 31 January 2025

 

Anonymity

 

Unless and until a tribunal or court directs otherwise, the Appellant is granted anonymity. No report of these proceedings shall directly or indirectly identify him, any of his witnesses or any member of his family. This direction applies to, amongst others, both the Appellant and the Respondent. Failure to comply with this direction could lead to contempt of court proceedings

 

 

DECISION AND REASONS

 

1.              The Appellant is a Pakistani national born in 1995. She appeals with permission against the decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (JG Raymond) to dismiss her appeal under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016.

2.              The matter in issue before Judge Raymond was whether the Appellant qualified for consideration for entry under Regulation 8. This provision, relating to extended family members, required her to prove that she was dependent for her essential living needs on her sponsor in the United Kingdom. Her sponsor, her cousin Touqeer Sharif, is a Spanish national with pre-settled status in the United Kingdom. Mr Sharif attended the hearing before me, and with the assistance of an Urdu interpreter, spoke on his cousin's behalf.

3.              The entry clearance officer was not satisfied that dependency had been established, and therefore refused to issue a family permit.

4.              The Appellant appealed, and on 5 September 2023 the matter came before Judge Raymond on the papers.

5.              Judge Raymond dismissed the appeal. He noted that the sponsor had produced money transfer receipts ('remittances') dated between 2001 and 2020. These showed that he had been sending money to various people in Pakistan and in Spain. At paragraph 5 Judge Raymond says this: "none of the remittances I have seen with the application concern the Appellant personally". Then at his paragraph 21, he refers to remittance receipts in the Appellant's bundle. These were in her name but were from 2023, that recent date suggesting to his mind "that these have been put together to support the application".

6.              The grounds of appeal are straightforward. They are that Judge Raymond overlooked important evidence which the Appellant submits establishes her to be dependent as claimed on her sponsor. She says that the papers before him contained numerous regular money transfer receipts going back to 2021, showing her sponsor to have remitted money directly to her in Pakistan. She points to his paragraphs 5 and 21 to submit that he clearly did not take any of this evidence into account.

7.              Appearing for the entry clearance officer, Mr McVeety agreed. The evidence was in the papers, and the decision would appear to indicate that it was not taken into account. This being a fundamental error of law, the parties invite me to remit this matter to be determined by a judge of the First-tier Tribunal other than Judge Raymond. I do so.

 

Decisions

8.              The decision of the First-tier Tribunal is set aside.

9.              The matter is remitted to the First-tier Tribunal to be determined by a judge other than Judge Raymond. The Appellant has so far paid a fee for determination of her appeal on the papers. If she wishes to instead have an oral hearing before a judge, she should contact the First-tier Tribunal without delay and pay any additional fee required.

10.          There is no anonymity order in this case.

 

 

Upper Tribunal Judge Bruce

Immigration and Asylum Chamber

1 ^st February 2025