IA266702015

The Secretary of State has been granted permission to appeal against a decision of the Judge of the First-tier Tribunal Seelhoff who, following a hearing on 14 November 2016, allowed the appeal of Analiza Vicente Azuero (hereafter the "claimant") against a decision of the Secretary of State of 21 April 2015 to refuse her application of 5 March 2015 for leave to remain in the United Kingdom as the civil partner of a Ms Anabel Alipio Martin (hereafter the "sponsor"), a British citizen. The judge allowed the appeal under Article 8 outside the Immigration Rules (hereafter the "Rules").

The claimant is a female national of the Philippines, born on 27 February 1978. She arrived in the United Kingdom on 17 September 2009 with leave until 24 January 2010 as a domestic worker. She was subsequently granted a further five periods of leave to remain as a domestic worker until 30 May 2015.

The claimant first came to the United Kingdom as a domestic migrant worker on 17 September 2009. She was subsequently granted five extensions of leave to remain as a domestic worker with the last expiring on 30 May 2015. On 5 March 2015, she applied for leave to remain as the civil partner of the sponsor. This is the application that was the subject of the decision of 21 April 2015.

The claimant's application was refused under the 5-year partner route under the Rules for the following reasons:

i) The claimant had not submitted evidence that her civil partnership was valid. She had submitted a certificate stating that she and the sponsor had celebrated and registered their civil partnership at Hackney Town Hall but she had not submitted the official civil partnership certificate.