IA229042014

The respondent, Tariq Hussain, was born on 13 June 1987 and is a citizen of Pakistan. By a decision dated 28 May 2014, the appellant refused the respondent�s application for further leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of his marriage to Shabana Azam (hereafter referred to as �the sponsor�). I shall hereafter refer to the appellant as the respondent and to the respondent as the appellant (as they were respectively before the First-tier Tribunal).

The appellant appealed against the decision of the Secretary of State to the First-tier Tribunal (Judge R G Handley) which, in a determination promulgated on 5 August 2014, dismissed the appeal under the Immigration Rules but allowed the appeal under Article 8 ECHR. The respondent now appeals, with permission, to the Upper Tribunal.

The appellant and sponsor had begun their relationship in August 2006 and the appellant had entered the United Kingdom on 3 February 2012. He had married the sponsor in Pakistan on 31 July 2010. As regards his private life, the appellant accepted that he did not meet the requirements of paragraph 276ADE because he has not lived in the United Kingdom continuously for at least twenty years nor was he under the age of 18 or 25 years at the date of his application.

The grounds of appeal complain that the judge failed to follow the guidance of Gulshan (Article 8-new rules-correct approach) [2013] UKUT 640 (IAC) . The judge had failed to identify arguably good grounds for granting leave to remain outside the Immigration Rules.

The judge did refer to Gulshan in the determination although he proceeded directly from a dismissal of the Immigration Rules appeal [16] to a consideration [17] of Article 8 ECHR without identifying any exceptional circumstances. However, I am not satisfied (as I explained to the appellant and Mrs Pettersen) that the First-tier Tribunal erred in law by failing to do so. I referred Mrs Pettersen to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in MM [2014] EWCA Civ 985 at [129]: