IA045742014

For the sake of convenience I shall refer to the appellant as the secretary of state and to the respondent as �the claimant.� The claimant also brings a counter appeal against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal.

The claimant is a national of Ghana, born on 30 November 1961. Her appeal against the decision of the secretary of state refusing her application for the issue of a residence card as the family member of an EEA national exercising Treaty rights was allowed by the First-tier Tribunal Miles under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 � 'the 2006 Regulations'.

On 2 September 2014, Upper Tribunal Judge Rintoul granted the secretary of state permission to appeal against that decision on the basis that it was arguable that, in the light of TA and Others (Kareem explained) Ghana [2014] UKUT 316 (IAC) , the First-tier Tribunal Judge had erred in not considering whether the marriage between the appellant and her spouse was valid for the purposes of Belgian law.

At the hearing on 10 December 2014, I issued directions that the secretary of state should consider the documentation in the claimant's bundle and any further written report or submissions on her behalf as to whether, as she claimed, her proxy marriage celebrated in Ghana on 13 July 2013 and subsequently registered, was recognised in Belgium.

The claimant also gave notice that she too wished to apply for permission out of time against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal for failing to consider in the alternative whether the she and her husband were parties to a durable relationship within the 2006 Regulations.