VA127202013

As noted in the grounds, appeal rights are established by statute and therefore cannot be conceded where no such right exists. As such it was said that the judge had no jurisdiction to hear the case and allow the appeal.

Permission to appeal was granted by Designated First-tier Tribunal Judge McCarthy who noted that the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1532) in force from 9 th July 2012 applied. As he put it a person only has a right of appeal against refusal of entry clearance as a visitor if they are visiting a person related in one of the ways specified in those Regulations. The list of relationships does not include nephew to aunt and it was clear that the Presenting Officer had misled the judge into thinking otherwise.

Mr Duffy for the Home Office relied on the grounds. The Rules had changed on 9 th July 2012 and this application was dated 6 th May 2013. As such the rights of appeal to a judge were very limited and despite the concession by the Presenting Officer judges were creatures of statute and the concession was wrongly made. I was therefore asked to find that there was a material error in law, set aside the decision and in remaking it dismiss the appeal.

The Sponsor appeared and relied on the decision made by the judge. It had been accepted that the Appellant had a right of appeal because he was visiting his aunt. The Entry Clearance Manager had reviewed the application and said there were full appeal rights for a family visitor.

There is no dispute that the Appellant applied for entry clearance as a visitor on 6 th May 2013, the date of refusal by the Entry Clearance Officer being 3 rd June 2013.