[2023] UKUT 00277 (IAC)

Mr Allaraj is an Albanian national who was born on 25 January 1999. He entered the United Kingdom as an Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Child in 2013. He achieved a number of qualifications in a range of subjects. He learned how to speak English and worked in construction. His asylum claim was refused and he remained unlawfully thereafter. In January 2020, he met a Czech national called Tereza Gojicova and a relationship began. They started living together later that year and subsequently became engaged.

On 5 December 2020, Mr Allaraj and his fiancée arrived at Coquelles. They had travelled from the Czech Republic by coach, having spent some time with Ms Gojicova’s family. They sought entry to the United Kingdom. There is a reasonably detailed account of what followed in a contemporaneous note which was made at the port. Mr Allaraj was given a notice by ‘BFO N.Culver’ which required him to submit to further investigation. We should note that BFO stands for ‘Border Force Officer’. That role does not feature in the Immigration Acts but we understood it to be common ground before us that this Border Force Officer was a person appointed as an Immigration Officer under paragraph 1 to Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971.

Further checks made by the Immigration Officer revealed Mr Allaraj’s prior unlawful residence in the UK. Mr Allaraj was recorded as ‘seeking entry to the UK today as a family member of an EU/EEA national’. He and his fiancée were interviewed separately. They gave precisely identical accounts of their lives together, stating, for example, that she had a tattoo of a heart on her left foot and that she had an eight year old dog called Gloria. They both stated that Mr Allaraj enjoyed playing football and running but that he did not support a football team. The Immigration Officer was (understandably) satisfied that ‘the passengers are in a genuine relationship’. He recorded what happened next in the following way:

Mr Allaraj and his fiancée therefore proceeded on their way and resumed living together in a rented flat near Croydon. The next significant event was that Ms Gojicova was granted pre-settled status under the Settlement Scheme on 15 January 2021.

Mr Allaraj applied for leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme on 15 May 2021. His application was promptly acknowledged by the Secretary of State on the same day.

The couple married in Walthamstow on 4 August 2021. They had intended to do so previously but had been unable to do so because of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.