The Construction Ground
10. In essence Mr Buley’s argument under this heading is that the respondent misconstrued paragraph 245AAA(a) and as a consequence the decisions should be quashed. He referred to a decision of the Upper Tribunal in BD [2010] UKUT 418 (IAC) where the Tribunal was required to construe the phrase “spent a continuous period of five years lawfully in the United Kingdom”, which was required by paragraph 134 of the Immigration Rules in order to obtain indefinite leave to remain as a work permit holder. The Tribunal noted that there was no guidance on the proper interpretation of paragraph 134(i). The Tribunal concluded that the paragraph was not meant to be taken literally since if it were so taken anyone who wanted to qualify for indefinite leave to remain after five years would be unable to take even a day trip to France or visit his own country on family matters. As a literal construction made no sense, the Rule had to be construed sensibly. It was considered that it clearly imported a discretion and of relevance would be the reason for the absence and the strength of the person’s ties to the United Kingdom as shown in other ways. On the particular facts of the case the appellant’s absences had been required of him by his employer, a British company, and he had at all times retained his base in the United Kingdom where he was domiciled for tax purposes and appeared to have established a domicile of choice for other purposes. It was considered that he had clearly made this country his home. In those circumstances it was concluded that he did meet all the requirements of paragraph 134. 11. Mr Buley went on to argue that where paragraph 245AAA(a) referred to “residence” in the United Kingdom it did not say that in fact it meant “presence”. “Residence” was an ordinary word. One was resident in a place if it was one’s home. Mr Buley referred to the decision of the House of Lords in