OA083772015 & OA083842015

The appellants are citizens of Nigeria. They are twins who were born on 9 June 1997. They applied for entry clearance under para 297 of the Immigration Rules (HC 395 as amended) to join their father, Felix Babatunde Ayodele who is settled in the UK. On 23 April 2015, the Entry Clearance Officer ("ECO") refused each of the applications. On 25 August 2015, the Entry Clearance Manager confirmed those decisions.

The appellants appealed to the First-tier Tribunal. In a determination sent on 29 September 2016, Judge Frazer dismissed the appellants' appeals under Art 8 of the ECHR. The appellants sought permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. Permission was initially refused by the First-tier Tribunal but on 24 March 2017 the Upper Tribunal (UTJ Eyre QC) granted the appellants permission to appeal on the basis that, in reaching her decision under Art 8, the judge had failed to consider the application of para 297 of the Rules to the appellants.

On 13 April 2017, the ECO filed a rule 24 notice seeking to uphold the judge's decision.

At the hearing, I initially heard submissions from both representatives on whether the judge had erred in law in failing to consider para 297 of the Rules. At the conclusion of those submissions, I indicated that I was satisfied that there was a material error of law and both representatives agreed that I should remake the decision. As a consequence, I heard oral evidence from the sponsor and further submissions from both representatives in respect of Art 8.

In 2013, the sponsor travelled to Nigeria and saw the appellants for the first time. He again visited Nigeria in 2014.