Family Reunion after Two Years of Separation

We were instructed regarding the appeal of an Egyptian national who applied for entry clearance for family reunion, as the spouse of a refugee in the UK. He married an Egyptian national who claimed asylum in the UK and following a successful appeal he was granted refugee status. The couple had a daughter who was granted leave in line with her mother. The appellant and his family were Coptic Christians.

He applied to join his wife in August 2014 and the application was refused by the entry clearance officer as the entry clearance officer was not satisfied that the evidence of the requirements of the Immigration Rules had been met, in particular the appellant was intending to live permanently with his wife and that the marriage was subsisting. We provided a large bundle of documents and the Judge heard oral evidence from the sponsor. She had proven how she continued to keep in touch with her husband every day, missed him, and they communicated through Skype, Face Book and instant messaging and visited each other in Albania. She confirmed that while she got leave to remain in 2012, she failed to apply for him to join before 2014 because she was homeless, living at the brother’s house and did not expect that he would be allowed to come in because she had no accommodation and no salary.

Having heard evidence from the family members the Judge heard the submissions from our barrister, Ms Smith, and said that the credibility of the sponsor and the witnesses was not in dispute. Their appeal was allowed.