OA15942013

This is an appeal against a determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge S J Pacey, promulgated on 8 th November 2013, in which she dismissed the appeal against the refusal of an Entry Clearance Officer to allow the Appellant to enter the United Kingdom for the purposes of settlement with her husband.

i. Documentary evidence showed that the sponsor travelled to Afghanistan in July 2013, retuning the same month [8].

ii. The parties would not have had in mind the need to provide objective evidence of contact at this late stage but it was accepted they have maintained contact by the cheapest means possible i.e. phone cards. No adverse inference is being drawn from the lack of objective evidence relating to contact between the parties. The objective evidence made available significantly post dates the date of the decision [9].

iii. It is not disputed that the parties are married. The evidence indicates that the sponsor went to Afghanistan in July 2013. Photographs showed the parties together. The sponsor would have needed time off work to travel to Afghanistan which would have involved some expense which is a point in his favour. Set against this is the fact he has an incentive to go to Afghanistan other than to see his wife as he has family there [10].

iv. The sponsor only has a few weeks holiday a year and last saw his wife on 18 th May 2012. He must have stayed in Afghanistan for several weeks after the wedding but he has other relatives there which would have acted as an incentive for him to have an extended stay [11].