EA006352016

This is an appeal by the Appellant against the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge Burns (the judge), promulgated on 11 November 2016, in which he dismissed the Appellant's appeal. The appeal to the First-tier Tribunal had been against the Respondent's decision of 4 January 2016 refusing to issue her with a permanent residence card pursuant to the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations), as amended.

At all material times the Appellant was married to a German national, Mr Rabbani, and was thus the family member of an EEA national. The Respondent had not been satisfied that Mr Rabbani had exercised Treaty rights in the United Kingdom for a continuous period of five years.

The judge found that Mr Rabbani had been employed between 14 June 2010 and 31 July 2011. He then found that the Appellant had been in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance until November 2013. The judge also found that Mr Rabbani had been in receipt of Pension Credit from 15 August 2013, and then received a state pension from 30 December 2015.

In respect of the genuine chance of being engaged test the judge sets out his findings and reasons between paragraphs 46 and 54. He looks at what he describes as two phases on Mr Rabbani's efforts to find employment. The first phase involved applying for work as a geologist or in museums or libraries. In respect of this first phase the judge finds that there was no genuine change of Mr Rabbani being engaged in any of these fields.

Permission to appeal was granted by an Upper Tribunal Judge on 4 May 2017 with particular reference to the pension credit issue.