UI2022002496

       This decision should be read in conjunction with the decision issued on 23 June 2023 in which the Upper Tribunal found that the First-tier Tribunal had erred in law and set aside that decision with the finding at [18] being, namely that the appellant 'is related as claimed to the sponsor's purported wife.' The appellant's appeal was adjourned to be re-heard by the Upper Tribunal as the sponsor was not in attendance at the error of law hearing.

       No anonymity direction was made previously, and there is no reason for one now.

       The appellant is a national of Ghana, born in September 2001. This appeal is against a decision dated 14 December 2020 refusing a second application she made for an EEA Family Permit on 27 November 2020. The sponsor is Mr Antwi Agyei, who is said to be the husband of the appellant's mother, Mary Osei. Mr Agyei is a national of the Netherlands.

       The reasons provided in the decision notice can be summarised as follows. The DNA report was incomplete and was not accepted as sufficient evidence of the appellant's relationship to her purported mother. Furthermore, the respondent did not accept the documents (a customary marriage certificate and a statutory declaration) to be reliable evidence of the relationship between the appellant's mother and the EEA sponsor.

       The hearing was attended by representatives for both parties as above. I heard oral evidence from the sponsor, Mr Antwi Agyei and the appellant's mother, Mary Osei. Both representatives submitted skeleton arguments and made submissions and the conclusions below reflect those arguments and submissions where necessary. A bundle was submitted by the appellant and the Secretary of State relied upon his bundle before the First-tier Tribunal.