VA148162012

This was an appeal against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge J M Holmes, promulgated on 26 th November 2012, following a hearing at North Shields on 13 th November 2012. In the determination, the judge dismissed the appeal of MD Khaled Ahmed. The Appellant subsequently applied for, and was granted, permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, and thus the matter comes before me.

The Appellant is a citizen of Bangladesh who was born on 5 th January 1982. He appeals against a decision of the Entry Clearance Officer to refuse his application to make a family visit on 15 th March, under the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2012, and the decision appealed against is dated 28 th March 2012.

The appeal before Judge Holmes was specifically on the basis of a �paper appeal� without a hearing.

The judge noted how the Appellant claimed in his VAF that he enjoyed a net monthly income after tax of some �515, but the Respondent Entry Clearance Officer had decided that there was no reliable evidence that demonstrated this level of income. Indeed, the content of the bank statements provided for a bank account operated by the Appellant was not consistent with this claimed income (see paragraph 5). In response to this refusal, the Appellant provided an income tax certificate, which he said was a genuine copy.

However, �This document lacks a unique business identification number that it would bear if it was genuine, so I am not satisfied that I can place any significant weight upon its existence or content� (paragraph 6), according to the judge. The judge also held that the Appellant had not produced a copy of a proper tax return �That he ought to have submitted to the tax authorities, and which would have recorded income that he had disclosed to them� (paragraph 7).