VA315772012 & VA316152012 & VA315932012

The appellants are citizens of India. The first appellant was born on 20 March 1971 and the two further appellants, born on 30 June 2001 and 4 October 2002, are her children. They applied for visit visas to enter Britain to visit the first appellant�s sister, Mrs Bimala Kaur and her husband, who are settled here.

The first appellant�s application was refused under the provisions of paragraph 320(7A) on the basis that the application form contained the answer �No� in response to the question �Have you ever been refused a visa for any country including the UK?� whereas there was evidence that the first appellant had been refused a visa on 14 May 2003.

The other appellants were refused on the basis that as their mother was not coming to Britain they had not shown that suitable arrangements had been made for their travel to reception and care in the United Kingdom.

The appellants appealed against that decision. Their appeals were dismissed by Judge of the First-tier Tribunal Hussain after a hearing on 27 August 2013. It was the first appellant�s argument that the fact that �No� had been written in the application form in reply to the question of whether or not she had ever been refused a visa was a mistake made by the agent whom she had employed and was therefore an innocent mistake. Judge Hussain did not believe that explanation.

However in reaching that conclusion the judge had stated that the burden of proof was on the appellant and the standard of proof was the balance of probabilities. He had not stated on whom the burden of proof lay to prove the allegation made that the appellant had made false representations or not disclosed material facts in relation to the application.