UI2023001949 & Ors

             The appellants challenge the decision of the First-tier Tribunal dismissing their appeals against the respondent's decisions on 7 June 2022 (for the first appellant) and 14 March 2022 (for the second and third appellants) refusing them a family permit under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

             All three appellants are citizens of Nepal. The principal appellant is the sponsor's father, the second appellant is his brother, and the third appellant is his niece. The sponsor, his wife and child are all British citizens and the respondent considers that they live in the UK. The sponsor was granted a permanent residence card by the Spanish authorities on 31 July 2020 and is a qualified person.

             The appeals turn on whether the appellants can show that before coming to the UK, they lived with the sponsor in Spain, and that their residence there was genuine, creating or strengthening genuine family life during that time and was not for the purpose of circumventing UK immigration laws.

             The respondent was not satisfied that these appellants were living with the sponsor in Spain at the specified date and also at the date of application. It is not disputed that the second and third appellants were resident in Nepal, not Spain, on the specified date. The appellants' case in the First-tier Tribunal was that if the first appellant was entitled to pre-settled EUSS status as the sponsor's dependent, they should also be given EUSS status in line with him, to avoid splitting the family unit.

             For the reasons set out in this decision, I have come to the conclusion that the First-tier Tribunal decision must be set aside and remade, dismissing the appeals of all three appellants.