VA378142012

The appellant appeals with permission against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge R A Cox promulgated on 6 February 2014 in which he dismissed her appeal against a decision to refuse her entry clearance.

The appellant is a citizen of Afghanistan. She is married to Abdul Hai Pirzadeh who is also married to Momtaz Pirzadeh. Both marriages took place in Afghanistan when the sponsor was living there and are both lawful according to the law of Afghanistan. Momtaz fled to the United Kingdom where she successfully sought asylum; where the sponsor and his three children by the appellant were later admitted to the United Kingdom under family reunion.

Having thought that Ma Gul had died, it was only in 2011 that the sponsor found out that she was still alive. By this point the sponsor and the children had acquired British citizenship. With the assistance of legal representatives in the United Kingdom, Duncan Lewis & Co., an application was prepared whereby the applicant should seek entry clearance to the United Kingdom so she had access rights to her children. Documentation and a covering letter was prepared and forwarded to the appellant with a view to an application being made online.

The application, as prepared by Duncan Lewis & Co. was framed in terms of paragraph 246 of the Immigration Rules which was in force at the time, March 2012. Although the materials were sent to the appellant in good time, there were delays in the submission of the application owing to the intervening loss of the appellant�s passport. The application was not submitted until 16 October 2012 by which time the covering letter was out of date, and paragraph 246 of the Immigration Rules had been superseded.

The application, made online, was for a family visit visa and was supported by the documentation prepared by Duncan Lewis & Co. in respect of an application pursuant to paragraph 246 of the Immigration Rules. The application indicated that a visit of about a month was envisaged.