By Clara Finn
The High Court has refused Zahoor Un Nisa's challenge to a finding that she submitted false or misleading information in support of an EU-derived right of residence in Ireland.
Mr Justice Barry O'Donnell held that the Minister for Justice's February 2023 review decision was adequately reasoned and reasonably open on the evidence. The applicant, a Pakistani national, had received a residence card in 2016 after moving to Ireland with her Romanian husband, Vasile Turcan.
The Minister later questioned whether Mr Turcan had actually been exercising EU Treaty rights through self-employment in Ireland. Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection records showed 52 Class S contributions in 2016 but, apart from that and a short period of jobseeker's allowance in 2019, no recorded employment, income or earnings for him.
The applicant submitted Revenue self-assessment documents and maintained that Mr Turcan operated an electronics repair business between 2015 and 2019. However, the Minister found that these documents were not supported by business records or other independently verifiable material and conflicted with the social protection records.
The February 2023 review set aside an earlier finding that the couple's marriage was one of convenience. It nevertheless upheld the finding that the applicant had knowingly submitted false or misleading information or documents to establish a residence entitlement and revoked her residence card with effect from 9 December 2020.
A further issue concerned an incomplete 2019 tax document. After the review decision, the applicant said a missing page showed that the income recorded for that year belonged to her rather than Mr Turcan. O'Donnell J found that the 2019 document was only one part of the Minister's reasoning and that responsibility for clarifying the incomplete joint assessment rested with the applicant.
The court also granted a short extension of time for the judicial review proceedings, which had been filed five days late. The substantive challenge was refused. The judge's provisional view was that the Minister was entitled to costs, with final orders listed for 4 December 2025.