[2024] UKUT 00068 (IAC)

The appellant is a citizen of Albania born in March 1993. He claims to have entered the UK clandestinely in January 2018. He claimed asylum in June 2020 and was placed (and remains) on immigration bail. In early August 2020, he met Ana-Maria Podaru, a citizen of Romania to whom we will refer as “the sponsor”. They entered a relationship and began to cohabit in September 2020. In December 2020, the appellant withdrew his claim for asylum and, on 10 February 2021, applied for pre-settled status under the EUSS as the durable partner of the sponsor. The application was refused on 23 June 2021, and it is that refusal decision that is under appeal before us.

The appellant and the sponsor married on 22 June 2021. On 16 December 2021, the sponsor gave birth to the appellant’s son. Judge Sullivan found that the appellant’s relationship with the sponsor was genuine and subsisting, and accepted that it was a durable partnership. Those findings were not challenged by the Secretary of State and we approach our analysis on the footing that the appellant and the sponsor are in a durable partnership.

The Secretary of State refused the appellant’s EUSS application because he had not provided a “relevant document” demonstrating that his residence as a durable partner had been recognised by the Secretary of State. He had not, therefore, provided sufficient evidence to confirm that he was a durable partner of a relevant EEA citizen, and did not meet the requirements for settled or pre-settled status under the EUSS.