Post
by avjones » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:50 pm
Hi - just to let you know, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is getting MUCH more iffy about 3rd party support - often not allowing it to qualify under the rules.
For example, the case from 15th June this year AM (3rd party support not permitted R281 (v)) Ethiopia [2007] UKAIT 00058. In the case, the facts were:
"The immigration judge accepted that the sponsor sent to her husband and son in Ethiopia between US$200 and US$300 per month. This equated to between £123 and £184 per month, depending on the exchange rate. The sponsor and the appellant have a daughter who is in well-paid employment in London earning in 2005 £41,000 and now after promotion £50,000. The daughter gives her witness statement says £600 a month to support her father and brother in Ethiopia monthly and the judge accepted she pays £500 into an account for support of the family.
6. A cousin of the appellant who also lives in England supports the appellant and his son in amounts which vary between £100 and £400 per month. The evidence accepted by the immigration judge suggests that the appellant and his son are maintained in Ethiopia by monthly remittances from the UK which at their lowest total £723 per month and at their highest £1184 per month. The son, who is a partial beneficiary of this support, is, as indicated, in his thirties."
They decided that the 3rd party support didn't count:
" Indeed, the structure and wording of paragraph 281 of the Rules focuses the requirements of the Rules on the two individuals who wish to benefit from them; the spouse or civil partner with rights to be in the UK, and the spouse or civil partner who seeks to join that person. The parties must have met (281(ii), they must intend to live permanently with each other and the marriage must be subsisting (281(iii). The accommodation must be adequate and owned and occupied exclusively by one or other of the parties to the relationship (281(iv). This all points clearly to the need for the two persons involved to satisfy the Rules personally without reference to any third parties. So with maintenance. Paragraph 281(v) in our judgement requires the resources to be those of the parties alone."
The conclusion is not favourable:
" We are aware that there are a number of conflicting Tribunal cases as to whether third party support is permitted in spouse applications (see paragraph 11.54 of the sixth edition of Macdonald's Immigration Law and Practice, to which we were not referred). We did not have the benefit of hearing the parties' submissions on those cases but, as far as we can see, these are old cases, pre-dating Arman Ali and they are also cases which fail to take into account the proper approach to the application of section 3 as set out in KP India.
25. Accordingly, the immigration judge erred in law in taking into account the financial support provided by the sponsor's and the appellant's daughter and the cousin."
I am not, and cannot, offer legal advice to particular people. I can only discuss general areas of immigration law.
People should always consider obtaining professional advice about their own particular circumstances.