UI2023001967

For the Appellant: Ms E. Gunn, counsel, instructed by Bureau for Migrant Advice and Policy

             The Appellant is an Eritrean refugee in Uganda. His elder brother is an Eritrean refugee in the UK. The Appellant applied to join his brother in the UK in accordance with paragraph 319X of the Immigration Rules and Article 8 ECHR. That application was refused by the Respondent. The Appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal ("the FTT"). By a decision dated 18 February 2023, the FTT dismissed his appeal ("the FTT Decision"). He now appeals the FTT Decision to this Tribunal.

             The FTT did not make an order anonymising the Appellant's identity. Ms Gunn did not ask me to make one and there would appear to be no good reason to do so, given the importance of the open justice principle.

             Both the Respondent, in her decision, and the FTT in the FTT Decision, considered and applied paragraph 319X of the Immigration Rules. That paragraph has been deleted from the Immigration Rules. However, given that no issue was raised about this by either party, I have proceeded on the assumption that they were correct to treat that as the operative paragraph of the Rules.

             After setting out the background, the burden and standard of proof and an overview of what happened, including many of the arguments made, at the hearing, the FTT turned to its conclusions at paras. 19-27. Although the issue was whether the decision breached the Appellant's Article 8 rights, as is now normal, the FTT started by considering whether the Appellant met the requirements of the Immigration Rules and then turned to Article 8 outside of the Rules.