VA186412013

Although the Secretary of State is, strictly, the appellant to this appeal, for the sake of consistency I refer to her as the respondent and to the original appellant as such.

The Secretary of State has appealed, with permission, against the First-tier Tribunal decision (Judge Blake) promulgated on 19 August 2014 allowing the appellant�s appeal against the refusal of the Entry Clearance Officer to grant her a family visit visa to the UK.

The grounds submit that the judge made an error of law in failing to take account of the fact that the appellant had only limited Grounds of Appeal � in this case on human rights grounds only � as the application had been made after 25 June 2013, the date on which Section 88A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 was amended. It was submitted that the judge appears to have applied the law as it stood before 25 June 2013 and made no findings under Article 8 of the ECHR.

Brief submissions were made by both representatives, the Presenting Officer relying simply on the grounds. Ms Loughran acknowledged that there had been no specific mention of Article 8 in the determination but suggested that the judge�s findings of fact, in favour of the appellant, were sufficient implication that the judge was making a decision on human rights grounds.

The judge, however, did hear oral evidence and found the sponsor to have been a credible and honest witness. There is therefore no reason why the judge�s findings as to the evidence at [66] - [75] of the determination should not be preserved.