IA010832014

The appellant, Mr Brutus Odame Asante, date of birth 30 June 1967, is a citizen of Ghana. Having considered the facts there is no need for an anonymity direction.

This is an appeal by the appellant against the determination of First-tier Tribunal Judge M A Khan promulgated on 27 th June 2014, whereby the judge dismissed the appellant�s appeal against the decision of the respondent dated 5 December 2013 to refuse the appellant a residence card. The appellant was seeking a residence card as evidence of a right to reside in the UK as the spouse of an EEA qualified person.

By decision made on 22 July 2014 permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal was granted. The case now appears before me to determine in the first instance whether or not there was a material error of law in the original determination.

As a spouse the appellant would be seeking a residence card under Regulation 7. By the time of the hearing before me the appellant was as an alternative seeking to rely upon Regulation 8 on the basis that he was in a durable relationship with his partner and was entitled by reason thereof to have the respondent exercise a discretion in his favour and grant him a residence card. In Article 8 there is a discretion that is to be exercised by the respondent.

The appellant came to the United Kingdom in 2006. He claims to have met his spouse, the sponsor Ms. Maria Da Purificao Soares Da Costa a Portuguese national, in 2010 and they married in a proxy marriage on 28 December 2012. The marriage was conducted in Ghana. Neither the appellant nor his spouse attended the ceremony.