Tribunal decisions

The decision

Upper Tribunal
(Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Appeal Number PA/12233/2017

THE IMMIGRATION ACTS

Heard at George House, Edinburgh
Decision & Reasons Promulgated
On the 30 June 2022
On the 21 July 2022

Before

Mr C M G OCKELTON, VICE PRESIDENT, & UT JUDGE MACLEMAN

Between

BILLEL GHERAB
Appellant
and

SSHD
Respondent

For the Appellant: Mr A Caskie, Advocate, instructed by A J Bradley & Co, Solicitors
For the Respondent: Mr A Mullen, Senior Home Office Presenting Officer

DECISION AND REASONS
1. The appellant is a citizen of Algeria, born on 26 September 2017. FtT Judge Agnew dismissed his appeal by a decision promulgated on 26 May 2021.
2. The appellant sought permission to appeal to the UT. The grounds contend, in part, that the Judge erred in relation to an apparent attempt at suicide by (i) incorrectly applying “local knowledge” about lifeguarding on the River Clyde (ii) conjecturing, beyond the scope of her expertise, about the appellant’s feelings after the incident and (iii) unfairly treating this as a matter adverse to credibility, when it had not been challenged by the respondent.
3. On 2 July 2021 FtT Judge Ford granted permission to appeal to the UT, on the view that the Judge arguably erred in her assessment of the risk of suicide.
4. In a written submission dated 24 June 2022, confirmed orally at the hearing, the respondent accepted that the Judge erred in the assessment at [55] of her decision, as the respondent had made no real challenge to the appellant’s account of the incident, and the matter bore on the risk of repetition.
5. It is unfortunate that procedure is further multiplied in a prolonged case, but the inevitable outcome, as parties agreed, is that the decision of the FtT is set aside, and the case is remitted for a fresh hearing, not before Judge Agnew.
6. The starting point, and the scope of the case, remain as set out in the UT’s previous decision, promulgated on 15 October 2020.

30 June 2022
UT Judge Macleman

NOTIFICATION OF APPEAL RIGHTS

1. A person seeking permission to appeal against this decision must make a written application to the Upper Tribunal. Any such application must be received by the Upper Tribunal within the appropriate period after this decision was sent to the person making the application. The appropriate period varies, as follows, according to the location of the individual and the way in which the Upper Tribunal’s decision was sent:

2. Where the person who appealed to the First-tier Tribunal is in the United Kingdom at the time that the application for permission to appeal is made, and is not in detention under the Immigration Acts, the appropriate period is 12 working days (10 working days, if the notice of decision is sent electronically).

3. Where the person making the application is in detention under the Immigration Acts, the appropriate period is 7 working days (5 working days, if the notice of decision is sent electronically).

4. Where the person who appealed to the First-tier Tribunal is outside the United Kingdom at the time that the application for permission to appeal is made, the appropriate period is 38 days (10 working days, if the notice of decision is sent electronically).

5. A “working day” means any day except a Saturday or a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday.

6. The date when the decision is “sent’ is that appearing on the covering letter or covering email.