OA034612014

This is the appeal of the Secretary of State against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge Chambers promulgated 28.10.14, allowing the claimant�s appeal against the decision of the respondent, dated 21.1.14, to refuse the appellant entry clearance to the United Kingdom for settlement as the spouse of the sponsor pursuant to paragraph 352A of the Immigration Rules. The Judge heard the appeal on 15.10.14.

The sponsor has refugee status in the UK. The application made on 10.9.13 was for family reunion of the claimant as a pre-flight family member of a refugee, pursuant to paragraph 352A of the Immigration Rules. This requires the applicant to be married to a person with current refugee granted status in the UK and the marriage must not have taken place after the refugee left the country of his former habitual residence in order to seek asylum.

The sponsor was granted leave to remain as a refugee on 23.1.13. It is claimed that he entered into a Sigheh, or temporary marriage, with the claimant on 1.5.10. On 22.8.13 the claimant and the sponsor were married by proxy in Iran, over the telephone. The application was refused because the claimant married the sponsor after he was granted his refugee status.

In essence, the grounds of appeal assert that the judge erred in finding that the temporary marriage of the claimant and the sponsor could be regarded as a valid marriage.

In granting permission to appeal, Judge Fisher found an arguable error of law in the failure of the First-tier Tribunal Judge to make any finding on the sponsor�s domicile at the point of the second marriage. However, it was the first, temporary, marriage which the judge found met the requirements of the Rules. As the judge explained at �18, the second marriage does not assist the claimant, as it was entered into after the sponsor left Iran in order to claim asylum.