AJ (Gambia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

On a second appeal, permission should be granted only where the proposed appeal raises an important point of principle or practice, or there is some other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear it. A challenge directed essentially to the tribunal’s assessment of the facts will not ordinarily satisfy that threshold. Permission is also inappropriate where the lower tribunal reached a proper and legitimate decision on the evidence and the proposed appeal has no real prospect of success.

The appellant challenged the refusal of her asylum claim. The First-tier Tribunal, in a decision dated 26 August 2014, rejected her account that she was married to Colonel Cham, who had been involved in a coup attempt in The Gambia, and found no credible or reliable evidence establishing the claimed relationship or another basis for protection or leave under article 8.

The Upper Tribunal dismissed the appeal in a decision promulgated on 30 January 2015, finding a proper evidential basis for the First-tier Tribunal’s factual findings. Longmore LJ refused permission on the papers. The appellant renewed the application orally before Sales LJ. The central issue was whether the proposed challenge met the second appeals test.

1. Application refused. The renewed application for permission to appeal was dismissed.
2. The applicable second appeals test required the court to refuse permission unless the proposed appeal would raise an important point of principle or practice, or there was some other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear it.
3. The appellant’s proposed grounds principally challenged the First-tier Tribunal’s findings about her alleged marriage to Colonel Cham. Those grounds concerned the assessment of evidence and facts rather than an important point of principle or practice.
4. The First-tier Tribunal had reached a proper and legitimate decision on the evidence it heard and had explained its reasons. There was no real prospect of success on appeal, and no other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear it.
5. Sales LJ agreed with the reasons given by Longmore LJ when refusing permission on the papers. The application was therefore refused.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): renewed oral application for permission to appeal refused under [2016] EWCA Civ 259.
• Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber): appeal rejected in a decision promulgated on 30 January 2015.
• First-tier Tribunal: asylum claim rejected in a decision dated 26 August 2014.