Entry Clearance Officer, Beirut v MHD Mutasem Bali

A non-EEA-national spouse who accompanies an EEA-national spouse to the United Kingdom for a visit of no more than three months is entitled to an EEA family permit and entry, if the applicable documentary requirements are met.

For this purpose, temporary residence under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 is residence in accordance with the Regulations. It does not require a permanent, or intended permanent, stay. Where the conditions in regulation 12(1) are satisfied, the Entry Clearance Officer has no discretion and must issue the permit.

The respondent, a Syrian national, applied for an EEA family permit to visit his German-national daughter in the United Kingdom for two months. His German-national wife was to travel with him. The Entry Clearance Officer refused the application, treating the daughter as the relevant EEA national and finding that dependency had not been shown.

The First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeal, holding that the respondent qualified as the spouse of his EEA-national wife. The Entry Clearance Officer appealed on the basis that a short visit was not residence under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, and that the wife was not a qualified person. The central issue was whether a non-EEA family member accompanying an EEA national for a two-month visit was entitled to a family permit.

1. Appeal dismissed. The First-tier Tribunal had correctly allowed the respondent's appeal. Although its reasoning was brief, its conclusion was correct.

2. The respondent's wife, as an EEA national holding a valid identity card or passport, had a right of admission and a right to reside for up to three months under regulations 11(1) and 13(1) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006. As her spouse and therefore a family member, the respondent was entitled to reside with her under regulation 13(2), provided that he held a valid passport.

3. Regulation 12(1) was satisfied. The wife intended to travel to the United Kingdom within six months, would on arrival be residing in accordance with the Regulations, and the respondent would accompany her. The wording does not require the EEA national to arrive before the family member.

4. The word residing in regulation 12(1) does not require permanence or an intention permanently to reside. Article 6(1) of Directive 2004/38/EC expressly contemplates residence for up to three months without conditions beyond the prescribed identity documents. A time-limited family visit accordingly falls within the Regulations.

5. Once the conditions in regulation 12(1) were met, the Entry Clearance Officer was required to issue the EEA family permit. That permit enabled entry under regulation 11(2). The refusal was therefore erroneous in law, but the First-tier Tribunal's decision was affirmed.

• Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber): dismissed the Entry Clearance Officer's appeal and affirmed the First-tier Tribunal's decision.
• First-tier Tribunal: allowed the respondent's appeal against the refusal of an EEA family permit in a determination promulgated on 19 July 2013.
• Entry Clearance Officer, Beirut: refused the respondent's EEA family-permit application on 30 November 2012.