VA038362014

The Appellant born on 1 st January 1946 is a citizen of Pakistan. The Appellant was represented by Mr Karnik of Counsel. The Respondent was represented by Miss Johnstone, a Home Office Presenting Officer .

The Appellant had made application to visit the United Kingdom to see his son, the Sponsor. That application had been refused on 10 th June 2014. The basis of refusal was that the Respondent was not satisfied the Appellant was genuinely seeking entry as a visitor or that he intended to leave the United Kingdom at the end of that visit.

The Appellant had appealed that decision and his appeal was heard by First-tier Tribunal Judge Levin sitting at Manchester on 2 nd January 2015. The appeal was statutorily restricted on the basis of either being unlawful on race relations grounds or in breach of Article 8 of the ECHR. Race relations was not raised at any stage. The judge dismissed the appeal on human rights grounds.

Application for permission to appeal was made on behalf of the Appellant and permission to appeal was granted by First-tier Tribunal Judge Grimmett on 17 th March 2015. That was on the basis that the judge may have erred in giving weight to the fact the Appellant was a Christian an issue which had not been raised either by the Respondent nor the Sponsor having an opportunity to deal with at the hearing.

Directions have been issued for the Upper Tribunal to firstly decide whether or not an error of law was made in this case and the matter comes before me in accordance with those directions.