OA151072013

The Appellant is a national of Pakistan date of birth 27 th June 2013. She appeals with permission the decision of First-tier Tribunal Judge M. Davies to dismiss her appeal against the Respondent�s decision of the 27 th June 2013 to refuse to issue her with entry clearance as the spouse of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom.

The Sponsor is a Mr Sajjad Ali, an Afghani who is now a British national. Mr Ali arrived in the United Kingdom in 2001 and claimed asylum. In the course of that claim he declared that he was married with three children. He was refused asylum but remained in the UK and eventually gained indefinite leave under the �legacy� programme.

On appeal to the First-tier Tribunal the evidence for the Appellant took an entirely new turn. In a statement dated 7 th September 2011 Mr Ali said the following:

�I did not tell the truth when I made a statement in support of my claim [for asylum] in September 2001. I said I was married with three children on the advice of another Afghani who said it would assist my case. It did nothing of the sort. It was a very stupid thing to do but I was na�ve at the time.

I was granted ILR under the legacy provisions in 2010 and took the opportunity to travel to Pakistan to marry. Recalling what I had said nine years earlier, I felt trapped. Out of fear for my wife�s situation and frankly not knowing what to do, I eventually decided to try and resolve the problem by approaching an Imam in Quetta through an agent.