UI2024002399

      The appellant, a citizen of Venezuela who possesses a Portuguese passport, applied under the EUSS Scheme for settlement as the partner of Maria Elena de Oliveira Pereira (the sponsor), an EU citizen. He was refused by decision of the Secretary of State dated 8 November 2023 and he appealed to the First-tier Tribunal which allowed his appeal. The Secretary of State now appeals to the Upper Tribunal.

      The judge of the First-tier Tribunal noted [19] that the sponsor had been granted indefinite leave to remain on 6 August 2019. At [20], he wrote:

The difficulty appears to be that the appellant has stated that he is the spouse of the sponsor and hence the respondent has considered the application through that prism. In fact, there are not spouses but rather partners. As a result of the misconception by the parties, the respondent has not noted that in fact the sponsor has a documented right of permanent residence as per the above copy letter. That being the case, then the appellant would appear to be in a position to meet the requirements for status in the UK.

      The challenge to the judge's decision advanced by the Secretary of State complains of an inadequacy of reasoning; in particular, that the judge 'failed to provide any reasoned findings that engage with the requirements of Appendix EU and the definition of "durable partner" contained within Annex 1 of Appendix EU.

      As the appellant and sponsor were at court and had the services of a Portuguese interpreter, I proceeded immediately with the resumed hearing. Both appellant and sponsor were cross examined by Ms Blackburn.