UI2022003714

Although the Secretary of State is the appellant in this appeal to the Upper Tribunal, for ease of reference I shall refer to the parties as they were before the First-tier Tribunal.

            The Secretary of State has been granted permission to appeal against the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge Farmer promulgated on 23 June 2022 ("the Decision"). By the Decision, the Judge allowed the appellant's appeal against the decision of the Secretary of State to refuse to grant the appellant settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme in the capacity of a durable partner of a relevant EEA citizen.

            The appellant is a national of Algeria, whose date of birth is 31 March 1990. He entered the UK on 13 January 2020 on a visit visa. He met his EEA citizen sponsor in March 2020 and began a relationship. They got engaged on 20 August 2020 and entered an Islamic marriage on 24 September 2020. Their civil marriage was postponed due to Covid restrictions, and they eventually married in a civil ceremony in June 2021. His sponsor gave birth to their daughter on 31 January 2022.

            The appellant's appeal came before Judge S.L. Farmer sitting in the First-tier Tribunal at Hatton Cross on 4 April 2022. Both parties were represented by Counsel.

            For the reasons which she gave at paras [11] to [24] of the Decision, the Judge found that although the appellant did not hold a relevant document, he nonetheless met the definition of a durable partner contained in Appendix EU, Annex 1.