IA028172014

The Secretary of State appeals with permission against a decision of Judge of the First-tier Tribunal Norton-Taylor allowing Ms Amankwah�s appeal against the decision to refuse to issue Ms Amankwah a residence card in acknowledgement of her right of residence as a family member of an EEA national. Although the Secretary of State is now the appellant in this appeal and Ms Amankwah is the respondent, it is more convenient to refer to the parties as they were before the First-tier Tribunal. I shall refer to Ms Amankwah as �the appellant� from now on and the Secretary of State as �the respondent�.

The appellant submitted grounds of appeal which argued the marriage was valid. Reliance was placed on CB (Validity of marriage: proxy marriage) Brazil [2008] UKAIT 00080 . The grounds made no mention of Regulation 8(5). The grounds argued in the alternative that the decision breached article 8 of the Human Rights Convention.

The appellant requested that her appeal be determined on the papers without a hearing. Her representatives forwarded a bundle of 24 pages for consideration by the First-tier Tribunal. Judge Norton-Taylor also had the earlier determination of Judge Bircher, who had dismissed a previous appeal on the basis the statutory declaration produced to evidence the customary marriage did not state the place of residence of the parties. A fresh statutory declaration had been prepared for the renewed application.

In a clear and logical determination, Judge Norton-Taylor set out his reasons for allowing the appeal. He noted there was no allegation that any of the documentation produced by the appellant was not genuine and he found the documents were genuine and reliable regarding their contents. He made the following primary findings of act:

* it was highly likely Mr Hanson was a Ghanaian national at least until he obtained his Spanish citizenship;