IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
(Mr Justice Stanley Burnton)
Strand London WC2 Monday 29th April, 2002 |
||
B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE RIX
____________________
THE QUEEN | ||
ON THE APPLICATION OF RABIA BEGUM | ||
Claimant/Appellant | ||
- v - | ||
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT | ||
Defendant/Respondent |
____________________
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street,
London EC4A 2AG
Tel: 020 7421 4040
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
MR T EICKE (Instructed by Treasury Solicitor, London SW1H 9JS) appeared on behalf of the Respondent
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
"Q. You understand you have gained admission to UK by deception?
A. It was not false. When I applied, I was then unmarried. Only what my mother said was untrue."
"Q. So you are an illegal immigrant because you practiced deception?
A. Yes."
"I put it to you that you and your family conspired together so as to get your husband into the UK.
A. I don't know.
Q. But if the ECO [Entry Clearance Officer] had known you were married you would not have got a visa yourself?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you understood everything?
A. Yes.
Q. Any questions?
A. Will he get a visa?"
"3. She said that her father submitted the applications, but that she was interviewed by a Visa Officer around 9 or 10 months before the visa was issued. She was asked about her marital status (and agreed at interview on 18.6.98 that this question was relevant to the issue of the visa). At the time she was single, but shortly afterwards, she met the man whom she subsequently married. Immediately afterwards she started living with and was completely maintained by him. Even though she knew this would be relevant to the application, she did not think to volunteer the information to the Visa Officer.
4. Her mother signed a declaration stating that there had been no change in circumstances since the applications were made for any of the family, before the visas were issued."
"9. The subject applied for a visa to join her father in the UK. She would have signed the declaration at the end of the VAF (Visa Application Form) stating that she was aware that a change in circumstances between the date of the application and arrival in the UK could result in her being refused entry to the UK. She did not bring her marriage or pregnancy (child) to the attention of the Visa Officer, the Immigration Officer on arrival nor the Home Office. If her silence constitutes deception, then the same deception was clearly used to obtain leave to enter and subsequently indefinite leave. It may therefore be possible to treat her as an illegal entrant.
10. This report is submitted for consideration as to whether service of illegal entry papers is appropriate and, if so, whether attempts should be made to remove the subject and her daughter."
"The latter interview was conducted under caution, when Ms Begum admitted that, although she had been single at the time her application for entry clearance was initially made, she shortly afterwards met Mr Ali whom she subsequently married. She admitted that she was living with and completely maintained by Mr Ali prior to her arrival in the United Kingdom, but that she withheld this information from the visa officer in Bangladesh, even though she knew this information would be relevant to her application. Records also show that Ms Begum's mother signed a declaration stating that there had been no change in Ms Begum's circumstances, before the visas were issued. Ms Begum also admitted that she had failed to disclose her marriage, or pregnancy, to the immigration officer on her arrival in the United Kingdom. It was, therefore, concluded that had the Entry Clearance Officer in Bangladesh, or the Immigration authorities in the United Kingdom, been aware of Ms Begum's marriage, she would not have been granted entry to the United Kingdom as her father's dependant. By failing to disclose her marriage she is an illegal entrant contrary to Section 26(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1971. Accordingly, the indefinite leave granted to Ms Begum on 24 January 1996, is deemed to be invalid."
"The Applicant is not an Illegal Entrant. In 1993 her father applied for entry clearance for her as a dependant relative. She was interviewed on 10th January 1994 in Bangladesh. She was granted entry clearance on 11th December, 1994. She married on the 8th August 1994. She did not gain entry by fraud or deception. She had no intention to deceive. She was ignorant of the significance of her marriage which has since been dissolved."
"(1) An application for leave to apply for judicial review shall be made promptly and in any event within three months from the date when grounds for the application first arose unless the Court considers that there is good reason for extending the period within which the application shall be made."
"5. The decision which is challenged in these proceedings was itself a decision made on 10th August 2000. So that, even having regard to that decision, the amendment was well out of time."