IA105872011

The appellant, a citizen of Ghana, born on 16 August 1969 entered Britain in 2002 and overstayed. She claimed to have married an EEA national in 2005 in a customary marriage in Ghana, and was granted a residence permit as the wife of an EEA national. She appealed against a decision of the Secretary of State made on 23 February 2011 to refuse an application for a permanent residence card under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006.

It appears that the arguments before the Court of Appeal which led to the appeal being remitted to the Upper Tribunal and the decision of Judge Storey being quashed were that it was accepted that Judge Storey misunderstood the evidence given by the appellant regarding the date of her divorce and that the Upper Tribunal had erroneously informed the appellant the case management hearing listed for 22 March 2012 had been adjourned and that further directions of Judge Storey dated 13 April 2012 had not been served.

The appellant gave evidence. She stated that she was not aware that her husband had had any other relationship before he had left her in 2009 and that she was unable to discuss that issue with him because he would beat her. She had initially met him through a friend in Ghana in 2004 and she stated that he had come to Britain in 2004 when she had started living with him and that he had worked between then and 2009. She confirmed that she had entered Britain in 2002 and remained without authority.

Asked why they had not married in Britain she said that she had been told by her lawyer that she could not do so.

She stated that she had not seen the 2007 divorce document until she had gone to court. She confirmed that she had stopped living with her husband in 2009. She was asked when her father had died and she said that he had died in April 2006. It was put to her that on the divorce certificate dated 2007 and it was noted that her father had signed it. The appellant said that that was not the signature of her father.