PA/02532/2016 — appeal allowed: First-tier judge erred by disregarding corroborating witness/community evidence

An anonymised Kuwaiti appellant (referred to in the record as 'Dasee') was refused asylum in March 2016; the Home Office accepted he was Kuwaiti but disputed his claim to be an undocumented Bidoon. He submitted witness statements and supporting evidence from a Kuwaiti charitable/community association corroborating his Bidoon status; the First-tier judge disregarded this evidence. THE UPPER TRIBUNAL ALLOWED THE APPEAL, holding the First-tier Tribunal had erred in law by overlooking 'material evidence' supporting the claim, and remitted the case for a fresh hearing. USE IN A REPORT/BEFORE A TRIBUNAL: a directly citable authority for the evidential WEIGHT of corroborating witness statements and community/diaspora-organisation letters in a Bidoon status dispute — supports building a witness bundle around exactly this kind of corroboration where documentary proof of statelessness is, by definition, structurally unavailable.

Supports building a witness and community-corroboration bundle where documentary proof of statelessness is, by its nature, unavailable.