OA058622013

The Appellant is a citizen of Bangladesh who in reliance upon a marriage that she claimed to have entered into with the sponsor in Bangladesh on 10 October 2008, applied for entry clearance for settlement as his spouse on 18 November 2012.

On 14 January 2013 the Respondent refused that application. He was not satisfied the Appellant had relied upon a genuine marriage certificate, or that she had supplied adequate evidence of a genuine and subsisting marriage to the sponsor. In consequence he was not satisfied the couple were in a genuine and subsisting relationship, or that the Appellant intended to live with the sponsor permanently in the UK as his spouse. Finally he was not satisfied the Appellant met the financial requirements set out in Appendix FM.

The Appellant lodged an appeal with the First Tier Tribunal against that decision, and as a result the decision was the subject of review by the ECM on 21 July 2013. The ECM upheld the decision and added the additional point that given the difficulties that had subsequently been revealed with City & Guilds English language testing in Bangladesh no weight should be given to the certificate relied upon by the Appellant, who had been offered a free retest.

The appeal was heard and dismissed by Judge Handley in a Determination promulgated on 13 January 2014. He was not satisfied on the evidence before him that the Appellant and the sponsor had entered into a genuine marriage, or that they had a genuine and subsisting relationship at the date of the decision under appeal.

The Appellant applied to the First Tier Tribunal for permission to appeal. Permission was granted by Judge PJG White on 14 April 2014.