OA040242013 & OA040262013

For the Respondent: Ms L Appiah, Counsel, instructed by Isaac Akande & Co Solicitors

This is an appeal by the Secretary of State against a determination that was promulgated as long ago as 10 December 2013 by the First-tier Tribunal (Judge Wyman) in an appeal against a decision by the Entry Clearance Officer in January 2013 to refuse an application for a Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode. The applicants are citizens of Nigeria who at the time of the determination were twins aged just over 1 year.

When the matter came before the First-tier Tribunal on appeal some further evidence was submitted by the sponsor including further birth certificates issued by the National Population Commission in Nigeria. The sponsor gave an explanation to the Tribunal as to why he did not obtain the birth certificates from the National Population Commission in Nigeria from the very beginning, and that explanation was accepted.

One of the points made on behalf of the Secretary of State at the time was the failure by the sponsor and his wife to obtain DNA certificates. That would have proved beyond doubt that the relationship of parent and child subsisted between them and the twins. Other points were also made to undermine their credibility including the very late registration of the births.

On the face of the determination the First-tier Tribunal Judge has clearly given reasons for the conclusion to which she came, and it was a decision that she was entitled to reach on the evidence before her having found the evidence of the sponsor to be credible. It is inherent in the decision that the Judge was satisfied that the birth certificates issued by the hospital, which were not the full birth certificates, were nevertheless genuine documents. That finding is at the heart of the determination.