IA012852014

The appellant, who is a citizen of Afghanistan born on 20 June 1995, has been granted permission to appeal against the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge Walters, who by a determination promulgated on 23 July 2014 dismissed his appeal against a decision of the respondent to refuse to vary his leave by way of the grant of further leave to remain.

The appellant arrived in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2011, concealed in the back of a lorry, as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum. His asylum application was refused but he was granted discretionary leave to remain until 20 December 2012 on account of his age. His appeal against refusal of asylum was dismissed. On 15 December 2012, which was a few days before his discretionary leave expired, he submitted an application for further leave on the basis of rights protected by Article 8 of the ECHR.

The respondent in the refusal letter first considered the Article 8 claim under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. This was an application that could not succeed under paragraph 276ADE because the appellant did not meet the requirements concerning his length of residence in the United Kingdom and because, as he had lived in Afghanistan for the first fifteen years of his life, he being just 17 years old when he made the application, the respondent did not accept that he had lost ties with his country of nationality.

�It has been considered whether your application raises or contains any exceptional circumstances which, consistent with the right to respect for family and private life contained in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, might warrant consideration by the Secretary of State of a grant of leave to remain in the United Kingdom outside the requirements of the Immigration Rules. It has been decided that it does not. Your application for leave to remain in the United Kingdom is therefore refused.�

The judge also heard oral evidence from the appellant�s tutor at the college where he had been taking courses in the English language. The tutor spoke positively about the appellant�s good attitude towards his studies and his success in examinations. He said that the appellant had achieved a good deal within a relatively short period of time under difficult circumstances relating to what he referred to as the tragic circumstances concerning his immediate family which I take to be a reference to the death of both of the appellant�s parents.