OA002972014

This is an appeal against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge Clough, promulgated on 12 th December 2014, following a hearing at Hatton Cross on 9 th October 2014. In the determination, the judge allowed the appeal of Mrs Dora Anane Frimpong. The Respondent subsequently applied for, and was granted, permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, and thus the matter comes before me.

The Appellant is a female citizen of Ghana who was born on 28 th October 1973. She sought entry to the UK to settle with her husband, in an application which was refused on 25 th September 2013, because the Respondent was not satisfied that the Appellant was in a subsisting relationship with her husband, that no documentation was supplied to show that the Sponsor had undergone a valid divorce from his previous wife; that the Sponsor had not shown he met the income requirements; and the Appellant did not supply an original report for the speaking part of her English test.

By the time of the appeal before the judge, all but one of the four matters set out above had been conceded by the Secretary of State. It was now said that the only issue on an appeal before Judge Clough was that the marriage was not a genuine and subsisting one.

The grounds of application state that the judge failed to give adequate reasons in support of material findings. The judge did not record that the Sponsor was credible. He accepted that the Sponsor had divorced but did not record whether the divorce certificate was an original or a copy. Furthermore, whilst he accepted that the Appellant and the Sponsor intended to live together in the UK, he did not record if that was on a permanent basis.

�It is reasonable to expect that in a genuine subsisting, supportive and affectionate relationship, there will be evidence of regular contact, signs of companionship, emotional support, affection and an abiding interest in each other�s welfare and wellbeing ...�.