The High Court has quashed a decision refusing Fahad Abbas a residence card as the permitted family member of his brother, Farrukh Abbas, and remitted the application to the Minister for Justice and Equality for fresh consideration.
Mr Justice Max Barrett ruled that the Minister acted unreasonably in concluding that Fahad had not established dependency on Farrukh. The court found that, under the applicable EU law, the relevant country for assessing dependency was Ireland, where Fahad was living when he made the application—not Pakistan, as the Minister had treated it.
The brothers applied in May 2017. Fahad had come to Ireland in 2014 on a student visa, and Farrukh had supported his studies and, it appeared, his accommodation. The application was refused in September 2017. A review was also refused in November 2018, prompting the judicial review proceedings.
The judge said the Minister’s description of transfers to Fahad in Ireland as “some small transfers” was not borne out by the evidence. A letter from the Minister had recorded that Farrukh transferred about €22,000 to Fahad in one year. The court said that sum could not properly be described as small in the circumstances.
The judgment also addressed support sent to the family in Pakistan. Records showed transfers of nearly £6,000 to the brothers’ father between November 2010 and April 2013, almost £4,000 directly to Fahad between September 2012 and January 2014, and about £3,500 to a sister between June 2015 and February 2016. The judge said the Minister’s doubts about the documents’ authenticity did not appear to address Farrukh’s explanation for the lack of other paperwork. The court also questioned how Fahad could be expected to prove that he would have been unable to support himself if he had not received the transfers.
The court said a signed statement submitted with the residence-card application was evidence that the Minister had to assess and assign appropriate weight. It also said dependency could include support given indirectly through a family member, and did not require the supporter to meet all of a person’s essential needs.
The judge rejected the separate argument that the Minister had failed to consider the brothers’ right to family life. He noted that Fahad had renewed his Stamp 2 permission after the refusal and that no deportation order had been made. The ruling sets aside the refusal; it does not itself grant Fahad a residence card.