OA213992012

Kevser Boz, the Appellant herein, is the spouse of Huseyin Yilmaz (hereinafter � the sponsor �). This appeal arises out of a refusal by the Entry Clearance Officer, Istanbul (� the ECO �) to grant the Appellant an entry clearance visa.

The application for the visa was made on 17 th August 2012. The ECO refusal decision was made on 16 th October 2012. Following a request for review, the decision was affirmed by the Entry Clearance Manager, on 10 th May 2013. The ensuing appeal was dismissed by the First-tier Tribunal.

Given the course of the appeal, in which the parties� respective representatives adopted certain positions and made appropriate representations to the Tribunal, which served to illuminate the relevant factual matrix, it is unnecessary to delve into the minutiae of the application or its dual determination.

In his representations to the Tribunal, the sponsor did not dispute that the entry clearance application had not included either of the aforementioned types of information. Thus it was, in effect, conceded that the application was not compliant with the Rules. While the sponsor advanced an articulate, credible and reasonable explanation for these failures, this, sadly, is of no avail, as it is well settled that the requirements of the Rules in such cases are mandatory, admitting of no exceptions. There is no �near miss� principle.

The Tribunal is also bound to comment on two matters pertaining to the ECO�s decision. The first is that neither of the written decisions is expressed with the necessary clarity or in the appropriate detail. The second, based on Mrs O�Brien�s candid acknowledgement, is that the paper file compiled and maintained by the ECO was in a most unsatisfactory state. The Tribunal trusts that these significant shortcomings will be addressed and rectified in future cases.