EA006502016

The Respondent, who was born on 19 December 1974, is a citizen of Nigeria. On 21 June 2011 the Respondent was issued with a residence card as the family member of an EEA national, which was valid until 21 June 2016. On 16 June 2015 the Respondent applied for a permanent residence card as a confirmation of his right to remain in the United Kingdom. His application was refused on 7 January 2016.

The Respondent appealed against this decision and First-tier Tribunal Judge Majid allowed his appeal in a decision promulgated on 20 March 2017. The Appellant appealed against this decision and First-tier Tribunal Judge Ford granted her permission to appeal on 25 September 2017 on the basis that First-tier Tribunal Judge Majid had not identified the evidence on which he based his finding that the Respondent's former spouse had been exercising her Treaty rights at relevant times and over relevant periods of time.

The Home Office Presenting Officer and Counsel for the Respondent made oral submissions and I have referred to their submissions, where relevant, in my findings below.

On 15 June 2015 the Respondent had applied for a permanent residence card on the basis that he had lived in the United Kingdom for a continuous period of five years and at the end of this period of time he had retained a right of residence. The Respondent married his French wife on 29 May 2010 and a decree absolute was made at the Family Court at Bromley on 28 May 2015. The skeleton argument, dated 17 January 2017, indicates that this was the basis upon which his case was argued at the hearing before First-tier Tribunal Judge Majid.

However, this was not apparent from the decision reached by the First-tier Tribunal Judge. In paragraph 2 of his decision he did not provide any particulars of the refusal letter and in paragraph 3 of his decision he made a general reference to the Immigration Rules, as opposed to the EEA Regulations.