OA010572014 & Ors.

The 1 st Appellant, who was born on 29 January 1975, is a national of Bangladesh. The 2 nd and 3 rd Appellants are her daughters; Fatema Jannath Rumi, who was born on 20 March 1997, and Saddika Jannath Asha, who was born on 21 April 1998. They are also nationals of Bangladesh.

On 5 May 1995, the 1 st Appellant married Hafizur Rahman and the 2 nd and 3 rd Appellants were subsequently born in Bangladesh. The 1 st Appellant's husband and sponsor came to the United Kingdom in 2006 on a work permit and he returned to Bangladesh to visit the Appellants in December 2009. He was granted indefinite leave to remain here on 25 March 2011 and visited the Appellants in Bangladesh in March/April 2011.

The sponsor became a naturalised British citizen on 12 April 2012 and was issued with a British passport on 21 August 2013.

The Appellants applied for entry clearance as his dependents on 26 September 2013 but their applications were refused on 15 December 2013. They appealed against this decision on 9 January 2014 and First-tier Tribunal Judge Lucas dismissed their appeal in a determination promulgated on 30 September 2015. The Appellants appealed against this decision on 19 October 2015 and they were granted them permission to appeal by the First-tier Tribunal on 22 March 2016. The Respondent then filed a Rule 24 response on 21 April 2016.

Counsel for the Appellant submitted that the burden of proof in relation to the 1 st Appellant's ability to speak English lay on the Respondent, as he had made an allegation of deception. He also sought to distinguish the case of SM and Qadir v Secretary of State for the Home Department (ETS - Evidence - Burden of Proof) [2016] UKUT 229 (IAC) on the basis as these cases related to ETS tests sat in the United Kingdom. He also submitted that the evidence relied on was not relevant to the application for entry clearance made by the 1 st Appellant .