Ioannis Karamarias

Career Highlights

I have been instructed by a client, from a non-EU country, (who had been stranded in the UK, being temporarily in this country initially with visitor’s Visa, in 2020, due to COVID restrictions and lockdowns, but being accommodated by her son, in the UK, who is a naturalised British citizen), to challenge on her behalf, by way of an appeal application to the First-tier Tribunal, (after her initial Leave to Remain in the UK/FLR(HRO) application had been refused by the Home Office), as an adult dependent relative, (mother of a British citizen); managed to prove with sound, (subjective and objective) evidence, (through the Witness Statements and citing the relevant case and statutory law in the Skeleton Argument), that while she was living in her country, she had been all alone, with no support from close family members and relatives, suffering from various mental health problems and also being vulnerable, due to her advanced age, to various challenges of the everyday life; the Bundle was so thorough and the arguments that were put forward were very well substantiated by evidence that the Home Office Presenting Officers decided to withdraw from the appeal hearing that was due to take place in a few days’ time and grant her Leave to Remain in the UK on compassionate circumstances. 

I have been instructed by another client, (from a non-EU country), to deal with his Leave to Remain in the UK; he got married to an EU/EEA citizen with pre-settled status, but the marriage took place in May 2021, (namely after 31^st December 2020), and the client was at that time, an over-stayer in the UK; therefore, there was no way to apply from outside the UK, with a view to be granted pre-settled status, (or to apply for an EU Settlement Scheme family permit, since the client was not outside the UK when I was instructed by me to apply for his Leave to Remain). So, the only solution was to apply for an FLR(FP), as the spouse of an EU/EEA citizen with pre-settled status; the initial application was refused; but in the appeal process, (to the First-tier Tribunal), through the evidence used to support the Witness Statements and the case and statutory law cited as part of the Skeleton Argument, I managed to prove that he client/Appellant had an established family life in the UK, pursuant to Article 8 of the ECHR, (he had close ties with some of the relatives of his wife, one of whom was also a British citizen and who were willing to employ him once he was granted Leave to Remain), and that his EU/EEA wife, although born in the Appellant’s country), had moved to another country since she had been a child and therefore, she had not spent her formative years there, and was running the risk, upon being forced to follow the Appellant, (her husband), there, of not being integrated into the society of the Appellant’s country, and therefore, of not being treated an an “insider”, there. The evidence of the Appeal Bundle was strong enough to dissuade the Home Office Presenting Officers from attending the First-Tier Tribunal hearing; they decided, instead, to withdraw from the Appeal and granted the client Leave to Remain in the UK, (this happened in early 2022).