VA294752012

The appellant is a citizen of Nigeria, born on 12 August 1986. His appeal against the Entry Clearance Officer�s (�ECO�) decision to refuse entry clearance as a (family) visitor was dismissed by First-tier Tribunal Judge C.M.A. Jones in a determination promulgated on 26 July 2013.

The application for entry clearance was refused on 13 July 2012 on the basis that the appellant had used false documents in support of the application, leading to a refusal under paragraph 320(7A) of HC 395 (as amended), as well as under paragraph 41.

The reasons given for the refusal of the application in more detail were, that the appellant had submitted a bank statement in the name of B.F.E Ventures but enquiries with the bank revealed that although the bank statement was genuine the account holder was unaware that the account was to be used in support of the application for entry clearance. Tax documents had been confirmed to be false as they did not emanate from the tax office claimed.

Judge Jones took into account what was said to be a letter from the United Bank for Africa (�UBA�) dated 28 March 2013 which purported to show that the account holder and business partner of the appellant did now support the use of the account. The judge nevertheless concluded that at the time the bank statement was submitted it was in an attempt to deceive. A letter from the tax office said to explain the issue of the tax receipts did not in the judge's view answer the point made by the ECO about the tax documents.

The judge therefore found that paragraph 320(7A) was made out and that consequently the appellant was not able to establish that he was a genuine visitor who intended to leave the UK at the end of the period of the visit, with reference to paragraph 41(i) and (ii).