Tribunal decisions

The decision

Upper Tribunal
(Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Appeal Number: AA119572015

THE IMMIGRATION ACTS

Heard at Field House
Decision & Reasons Promulgated
On 26th May 2016
On 20th June 2016

Before

DEPUTY upper tribunal JUDGE RENTON

Between

ROWENA PERALTA
(ANONYMITY DIRECTION not made)
Appellant

and

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
Respondent

Representation:

For the Appellant: No Appearance
For the Respondent: Mr S Whitwell, Home Office Presenting Officer

DECISION AND REASONS

Introduction
1. The Appellant is a female citizen of the Philippines born on 1st May 1969. The Appellant first arrived in the UK on 22nd June 2013 when she was given leave to enter until 18th February 2014 as an Overseas Domestic Worker. The Appellant applied for asylum on 13th March 2014. She withdrew that application later that month in order to return to the Philippines to see her children, but on 4th April 2014 she repeated the application. The application was refused on 21st August 2015 for the reasons given in the Respondent's letter of that date. The Appellant appealed, and her appeal was heard by First-tier Tribunal Judge Graves (the Judge) sitting at Harmondsworth on 6th April 2016. He decided to dismiss the appeal for the reasons given in his Decision of the same date. The Appellant sought leave to appeal that decision, and on 26th April 2016 such permission was granted.
Error of Law
2. I must first decide if the decision of the Judge contained an error on a point of law so that it should be set aside.
3. At the hearing before me, there was no appearance by or on behalf of the Appellant. I decided to hear the appeal in the absence of the Appellant in accordance with the provisions of Rule 38 of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008. I was satisfied that the Appellant had been notified of the time, date, and place of the hearing at her last known address. I considered it was in the interest of justice to proceed with the hearing. As will become apparent, the Appellant has a history of failing to attend hearings.
4. The sole ground of application is that the Appellant was unable to attend the hearing before the Judge through ill-health and because she had not been given the necessary notice of the hearing. Leave to appeal was granted on that basis.
5. I find no error of law in the decision of the Judge. The Appellant failed to attend the hearing before the Judge on 6th April 2016. The Judge gave his reasons for proceeding to hear the appeal in the absence of the Appellant at paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Decision. The Judge had regard to the overriding objective given by Rule 2 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Rules 2014 and the Judge considered that it was in the interest of justice to proceed as required by Rule 28. There was no evidence before him that the Appellant was ill, and the Judge satisfied himself that the Appellant had received a Notice of Hearing in accordance with those Procedure Rules. There was no application for an adjournment before the Judge. The Judge properly took into account the history of the appeal. The Judge's decision to proceed contained no error on a point of law.

Decision

The making of the decision of the First-tier Tribunal did not involve the making of an error on a point of law.

I do not set aside that decision.

The appeal to the Upper Tribunal is dismissed.
Anonymity

The First-tier Tribunal did make an order for anonymity. I was not asked to continue that order, and indeed find no reason to do so. I therefore lift the order made by the First-tier Tribunal.

Signed Date 20th June 2016

Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge Renton