OA041742013 & OA041702013

The appellant in these proceedings is the Entry Clearance Officer New Delhi (�ECO�). However, for convenience we refer to the parties as they were before the First-tier Tribunal.

The relevant part of the ECO�s decision was to the effect that the appellant had submitted a letter from her spouse stating that he is a student at Heriot-Watt University. The ECO concluded that that was the awarding body for his MSc degree in financial management but was not the sponsoring institution which it was said was the West London College.

The conclusion by the ECO was that the appellant was not the partner of a Tier 4 (General) Student who was undertaking a course of study sponsored by a sponsor which is a recognised body or a body in receipt of funding as a higher education institution from the Department for Employment and Learning etc. The refusal was under paragraph 319C(i)(5) of HC 395 (as amended).

Judge Buckwell, correctly in our view, identified what the relevant provision of the Immigration Rules was, notwithstanding that the notices of decision are rather obscure in that regard. The relevant provision is to the effect that the appellant�s husband needed to have been undertaking a course which is of 1-12 months or longer in duration, of postgraduate level and sponsored by a sponsor which is a recognised body or a body in receipt of funding as a higher education institution.

The matter in issue before the First-tier Tribunal was, in effect, whether the sponsor was the West London College, which is not a recognised body, or Heriot-Watt University, which, it is accepted, is and was a recognised body.