VA012042015 & VA012062015

The Entry Clearance Officer appeals against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Judge Anthony) allowing the respondents' appeals against decisions taken on 28 January 2015 refusing to grant them entry clearance to visit their son and daughter-in-law in the UK under para 41 of the Immigration Rules (HC 395 as amended).

For convenience, I will refer to the parties as they appeared before the First-tier Tribunal.

The appellants are citizens of Syria and are a married couple. They were born respectively on 26 May 1956 and 1 January 1939.

On 21 January 2015, they each applied for entry clearance in order to visit their son and daughter-in-law in the UK. The purpose of their visit, as set out in their respective applications, was to come to the UK as their son and daughter-in-law were expecting their first child (the appellants' grandchild). The baby was due on 17 February 2015 and the appellants wished to travel to the UK on that date and indicated in their application that they intended to stay for two months.

At the date of the applications, the appellants were resident in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They both indicated in their application form that they had a "residency visa" in the UAE. Together with their applications, the appellants submitted a number of documents (either to the ECO or subsequently to the ECM) including ones relating to property ownership in Syria, bank statements of the second appellant in Syria and bank statements and other supporting documents from their son, Dr Imad Najm who is a Syrian national but working as a doctor in the UK.