IA222882014

This is an appeal by the Secretary of State against the determination of Judge Drabu CBE promulgated on 23 July 2015 following a hearing at Taylor House on 25 June 2015. The Secretary of State appeals against the determination of Judge Drabu who allowed the appeal of Mr Fred Kivumbi under the Immigration Rules. For the purposes of continuity I shall refer to Mr Kivumbi as the appellant as he was before the First-tier Tribunal.

The matter arose in this way. The appellant appealed against a decision of the respondent refusing him a variation of leave to remain in the United Kingdom as the victim of domestic violence and the giving of directions for removal under Section 47 of the 2006 Act. The refusal of the application was made in a letter dated 2 May 2014. The appellant is a national of Uganda. His date of birth is 22 February 1968. He stated that he came to the United Kingdom on 24 January 2005 and was subsequently granted leave to remain.

The appellant argued that he had produced the relevant information in support of his claim of being granted indefinite leave to remain as a person who had lived continuously and lawfully in the United Kingdom for the last ten years. The application was the subject of a response by the Secretary of State in a letter written on 22 March 2015. It was written to the appellant's representative and the Secretary of State said:

Section 3C provides for a person who has leave but makes an in-time application for a variation of his leave but whose leave expires before the fresh application is decided by the respondent. Such a person's original leave is continued until the application is decided. However, a person is restricted to making a single application; he cannot keep making a further application as a means of permanently extending his leave. Thus, s. 3C(4) provides:

'A person may not make an application for variation of his leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom whist that leave is extended by virtue of this section.'