UI2023004251

              The Appellant, a citizen of China, appeals against the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge Turner ("the Judge") dated 30 th August 2023 dismissing the Appellant's human rights appeal on several bases including his failure to meet Appendix Private Life concerning whether or not he had accrued 20 years' continuous residence in the United Kingdom.

              The Appellant applied for permission to appeal on seven grounds. Permission to appeal was granted by First-tier Tribunal Judge Seelhoff on 2 nd October 2023 in following the terms:

The majority of grounds are challenges to credibility findings that were open to the judge to make and amount to simple disagreements with those findings rather than identifying errors of law. In other cases they go to matters that likely would have no impact on the overall outcome of the appeal (ground 1).

Ground 6 however challenges the approach to the evidence of a supporting witness Mr Deqin, a childhood friend of the Appellant who claimed to have met the Appellant in the UK in August 2001 and to have had regular contact with him since that time. The Judge dismissed his evidence on the basis that; "I also note that Mr Dequin claims to be a childhood friend and so not an independent nor objective witness."

The fact that a witness is neither independent, nor objective does not mean they are neither truthful nor reliable. It is arguable that without more than was noted it was not appropriate to dismiss Mr Dequin's evidence.