62. Memorandum submitted by
the Lord Triesman of Tottenham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
At the evidence session with your Committee
on 13 June, I offered to provide you with a legal opinion on whether
a change in legislation would be necessary to exclude the use
of new information in visa appeals.
Section 85(5) of the Nationality, Immigration
and Asylum Act 2002 states that in entry clearance cases "the
Tribunal may consider only the circumstances appertaining at the
time of the decision to refuse." This allows the Tribunal
to look at evidence from a sponsor relating to, for example, financial,
education and acccommodation circumstances at the time of the
decision although this information may not have been available
to the ECO making the decision. Limiting the Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal to consider only the evidence submitted with the application
for entry clearance would require an amendment to the Act.
5 July 2006
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