OA026262014

I have considered whether any parties require the protection of an anonymity direction. No anonymity direction was made previously in respect of this Appellant. Having considered all the circumstances and evidence I do not deem it necessary to make an anonymity direction.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department brings this appeal but in order to avoid confusion the parties are referred to as they were in the First-tier Tribunal. This is an appeal by the Secretary of State against a decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge A D Smith promulgated on 14 August 2014 which allowed the Appellant�s appeal under the Immigration Rules although this was clearly a typographical error as the case was an appeal against an decision under the EEA Regulations.

On 10 April 2013 the Appellant applied for admission to the United Kingdom, a family permit, as a family member of an EEA national who was exercising treaty rights in the United Kingdom, in essence as the spouse of Emanuela Dorobantu a Romanian citizen.

On 22 January 2013 the Secretary of State refused the Appellant�s application. The refusal letter gave a number of reasons: the Respondent stated that theirs was a marriage of convenience; the parties had at the time of application only lived together for 7 days; there was no evidence of their relationship prior to their marriage in 2013; there was no evidence of contact.

The Appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal and the case came before First-tier Tribunal Judge Smith. The Appellant was represented by Ms Faryl and there was no Home Office Presenting Officer. The Judge recorded at paragraph 6 of his decision why he dealt with the case in the absence of a Presenting Officer. After hearing evidence from the EEA sponsor the Judge found that the marriage in issue was not a sham marriage and therefore allowed the appeal.