A.W., a national of Pakistan, applied ex parte for an interim injunction to restrain his transfer under to the UK under the Dublin Regulation. He had applied for asylum in Ireland but it was subsequently discovered that he had held a visa issued by the UK in September 2008 for two years. The UK acceded to Ireland’s request to take charge of the Applicant’s asylum application under the terms of Article 9.2 of the Regulation.
The applicant objected that he had been out of the territory of the UK for more than three months since last entering the UK and that the UK entry visa in his passport was not a valid residence document; in the sense of Article 16(3) of the Regulation. He further submitted that the information given to the UK in the exchanges which took place between the UK and Ireland had not mentioned the Applicant’s claim to have spent more than three months outside the UK.
The Court refused the application for an interim injunction on the grounds that the Applicant’s claim to have been outside the UK for in excess of three months was not relevant because he was in possession of a valid UK residence document. The issue rather was whether the Applicant was in possession of one of the documents which created a connection between him and a particular Member State other than the one in which he had lodged the asylum application. In addition, Cooke, J. stated that were it not for the fact that the Court was satisfied that no fair issue to be tried as to the validity of the transfer order had been made out, the Court would have exercised its discretion to refuse to entertain the application on the basis of the Applicant’s lack of candour.
