OA029812013 & ors

This is a case of a de facto adoption by the brother of the appellants and his wife. I understand that the sponsor brother�s wife has been granted entry clearance to join her husband in the United Kingdom. Judge Juss found that the appellants were also entitled, as de facto adopted children of the couple, to entry clearance. The respondent disputes that. The respondent relies on Mohamoud (Paragraphs 352D and 309A � de facto adoption) Ethiopia [2011] UKUT 378 (IAC) in particular at [21] and [27]:

Unfortunately, neither Mr. Alim nor Ms. Saunders referred me to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in MK (Somalia) & Ors v Entry Clearance Officer [2008] EWCA Civ 1453 , paragraph 17 of which reads:

�17. In the present case (and, I accept, many others), this test of de facto adoption is not satisfied because it requires that both adoptive parents have spent at least 18 months living with the child immediately prior to the child's application for entry clearance, whereas in an asylum case at least one of the parental figures will usually be in the United Kingdom, having successfully sought asylum.�

Mr Khan acknowledged the appellants could not succeed under the Immigration Rules and both he and Mr Smart made representations to me (on the basis of the evidence before the Tribunal � I did not hear any new oral evidence) as regards Article 8 ECHR. Having set aside the determination, I reserved the remaking of the decision.

The determination of the First-tier Tribunal promulgated 10 July 2014 is set aside. I have remade the decision. The appeals against the ECO�s decisions dated 22 October 2012 are dismissed.