Judgment of Mr. Justice Barr ,This case dealt with the first Applicant, a non EU national, applying for residence in the State has a partner to the second applicant, but having their application rejected by the Respondent and again upon review. The Applicants challenge that the Respondent placed too much focus on their lack of joint financial commitments and as the issue turned to credibility, the Respondent should have interviewed the Applicants prior to the decision.
The Court ruled that the Applicants did not put forth grounds to challenge the decision and that the Respondent did not focus to an impermissible degree on the lack of joint financial commitments. The decision was influenced by previous court rulings which defined what constituted a “durable” relationship, one in which could serve as a benchmark for EU citizen spouse cases.
It was determined that the Applicants had not provided enough evidence to indicate the existence of a durable relationship akin to marriage other than the existence of a joint bank account and cohabitation. In regards to the second challenge where the Applicants argue they were not given an interview prior to the decision being made, the Court ruled that the Applicants failed to provide sufficient grounds to their challenge. The veracity of the documents placed forward by the Applicant was never in doubt, but rather did not amount to satisfactory evidence to proof a durable relationship.
Therefore, while the Applicants could have requested an oral hearing, the Respondent did not call them forth because the veracity of the actual submissions was never in doubt. The Court refuses all the reliefs sought by the Applicants.
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