VA026452014

The Appellant, a citizen of the Ukraine born on 5 June 1980, applied for leave to enter the United Kingdom for two months as a family visitor to her parents in law, declaring an intention to travel with her husband and son, who are both British citizens.

The Respondent refused entry clearance to the Appellant by decision made on 17 March 2014 by reference to paragraph 41 (i)(ii)(vi)(vii) of the Immigration Rules. The Notice of Decision informed the Appellant that her right of appeal was limited to the grounds identified in s84(1)(c) of the 2002 Act. She appealed that decision, although she requested that the appeal be determined upon the papers before the Tribunal without a hearing. The Respondent raised no objection to that.

The grounds of appeal made no reference to unlawful discrimination, but they can and should be read as asserting that the decision was unlawful under s6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The ECM reviewed the decision to refuse entry clearance on that basis on 10 October 2014, but chose to uphold it.

The appeal was heard and allowed on 16 December 2014 in a decision promulgated on 9 January 2015 by First Tier Tribunal Judge NMK Lawrence.

By a decision of First Tier Tribunal Judge Robertson dated 13 February 2015 the First Tier Tribunal granted the Respondent permission to appeal on the basis it was arguable there had been a failure by the Judge to dispose of the appeal pursuant to the restricted grounds permitted by s88A of the 2002 Act (as amended), because the Judge had made no explicit reference to the Article 8 rights of any person in the course of his decision.