OA017312013

This is an appeal against a determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge Pooler promulgated on 12 th March 2014 following a hearing at Stoke-on-Trent on 3 rd March 2014, in which he dismissed the Appellant's appeal on both Immigration Rules and human rights grounds.

The Appellant, a national of Pakistan born on 1 st January 1991, applied for leave to enter the United Kingdom as a partner under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. The application was refused by an Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) on 20 th November 2012 as it was found the Appellant had not submitted all the required documents to demonstrate that the sponsor's income was as claimed and, in particular, that no signed contract of employment or letter from the sponsor's employer had been submitted. The application was refused by reference to paragraph EC-P.1.1 (d) of Appendix FM.

The Judge set out the correct self-direction in relation to the burden and standard of proof [6] and examined the first ground of challenge before him which related to the claim that the decision was not in accordance with the Immigration Rules. In paragraphs 9 and 10 of his determination the Judge finds:

Mr Khan relied on the letter of 8 July 2009 as fulfilling the requirement to provide a signed contract of employment. In my judgment, the letter does not meet that requirement because it did no more than confirm changes in the sponsor's job title, location of work, salary and provision for discretionary commission. It did not set out the terms of the sponsor's employment and in any event it was not signed.

The second ground asserted that discretion under the Rules should have been exercised differently but this was dismissed on the basis Mr Khan had failed to identify any paragraph in the Rules under which any such discretion arose.