OA082742012 & Ors.

For the Appellant: Mr M Hachemi of Counsel instructed by Ison Harrison Solicitors

The history of this matter is as follows. The Appellants are all nationals of Somalia resident in Syria. They applied for entry clearance to join the first Appellant�s husband and the remaining dependants� father, a British citizen but were refused on 28 th March 2012 on the grounds that the Entry Clearance Officer was not satisfied that the principal Appellant was married to someone present and settled in the UK, that the marriage was subsisting, that she was exempt from the English language requirement or that the maintenance and accommodation requirements of the Rules could be met.

The Appellants appealed to an Immigration Judge and, on 9 th April 2013 the appeal was dismissed. The judge was satisfied that the couple were related as claimed and that the marriage was subsisting.

So far as the finances were concerned the Sponsor�s average monthly salary was �1,160.77 and, if the family joined him, there would be an entitlement to �309.11 per week of working family tax credit which constituted recourse to public funds. The Sponsor had produced evidence that a 3 to 4-bedroom property would be available to rent but he was not in a financial position to afford a greater rental commitment.

He made no findings in respect of the absence of an English language test certificate and concluded that there would be no breach of the UK�s obligations under the ECHR by the refusal.