OA072632014

The appellant is a citizen of Egypt, born on 6 April 1980. On 7 April 2013 he applied for entry clearance for settlement in the UK as the fianc� of Brenda Ann Gatherer, his sponsor.

The Entry Clearance Officer refused his application by notice dated 6 May 2014, referring to Appendix FM and paragraph EC-P.1.1 of the Immigration Rules. The Entry Clearance Officer was not satisfied that the appellant�s relationship with the sponsor was genuine and subsisting, that he intended that they should live together permanently in the UK, or that he was seeking entry to the UK to enable his marriage to take place.

By determination promulgated on 17 December 2014 a panel of the First-tier Tribunal comprising judges J C Grant-Hutchison and M Porter dismissed the appellant�s appeal against that decision. At paragraph 22 the panel was �not persuaded that the appellant had an intention to form a genuine subsisting relationship with the sponsor, albeit we had no reason to doubt the sponsor�s intentions.�

The FtT has erred in its assessment of whether the appellant�s relationship with the sponsor is genuine and subsisting by misunderstanding the facts of the case, by failing to give material evidence the proper consideration and by imposing an unjustified expectation of specific actions and behaviours, thereby failing to take the available evidence into proper consideration.

The FtT held that the appellant and sponsor�s relationship was not genuine as there was no discussion between them as to how the appellant would care for the sponsor in the UK: see determination at 23: