The rejection of a migrant worker’s application for further leave to remain has been upheld on appeal.

Muhammad Adnan Shabbir, an Isle of Man resident and Pakistani citizen, was granted entry clearance to the island in July 2024 as a representative of an overseas business.

But his entry clearance was curtailed after he was deemed to no longer meet the requirements of his visa.

He applied for further leave to remain in June last year under the worker migrant route, but this was refused by the immigration department’s entry clearance officer in January.

Immigration adjudicator Christopher Arrowsmith has now dismissed his appeal against that decision.

In February 2025, Mr Shabbir registered the business name Air Tech Pakistan with the Isle of Man Companies Registry.

He said the parent business was based in Pakistan and insisted he was not the beneficial owner, but only a representative.

However, his annual return for 2024-25 showed no wages had been paid, while he informed the assessor that the overseas company was no longer employing Isle of Man-based staff.

Mr Shabbir claimed there had been a significant delay in setting up his business, and it later emerged he was seeking a job with Stanleys restaurant and cafe.

His bank statement showed a £300 payment from Ceylon Limited, referenced as wages. His lawyer claimed this was actually a loan.

But the immigration department concluded he had worked for Ceylon, owner of the Cinnamon Indian restaurant, during his period of leave, which was expressly prohibited under the terms of his visa.

It also emerged that later in 2024, Mr Shabbir had applied for asylum appointments in the UK.

In his appeal, Mr Shabbir said his skilled worker/migrant worker application should have been assessed on its own legal merits and disputed that he had breached his visa conditions by seeking alternative employment.

He said he had lawfully submitted an application to switch from the ‘representative of an overseas business route’ to the ‘worker migrant’ route.

Air Tech Pakistan was a genuine overseas enterprise with an established trading history, Mr Shabbir said.

He insisted the £300 payment was a personal loan from a friend and claimed he had no intention of pursuing the asylum route.

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Arrowsmith said it was not unlawful to switch visa application routes, but on the evidence he was not satisfied there had been a genuine intention to establish a business here.

He said the absence of any corroborative information from Air Tech Pakistan was telling.

Mr Arrowsmith said the lack of genuine intention was apparent from the absence of any material steps to set up a company in the Isle of Man, aside from the limited step of registering a business name.

He added: ‘The explanation of a loan from a newly met friend whose business is an Indian restaurant, coupled with an earlier inquiry with another hospitality business - Stanleys - and then an intended job as a commis chef in a separate Indian restaurant, does not withstand scrutiny.’