Victory Odion Victor v The Entry Clearance Officer

Facts

The appellant is a Nigerian national born on 25 July 2004 who applied on 15 September 2024 for entry clearance under the EU Settlement Scheme family permit route, claiming to be the child of her sponsor, Faith Omon Odion Omokehe, a Spanish national resident in the United Kingdom with settled status. The Entry Clearance Officer refused the application on 07 October 2024. The concern was the appellant's Nigerian birth certificate, which had been registered three years after the birth, outside the 90-day period required by the Nigerian National Population Commission, with no contemporaneous birth records or other credible evidence of parentage, and nothing to show what material had been used to verify parentage at registration or that the late registration complied with Nigerian law. Following a request for further evidence made on 01 October 2024, the appellant supplied four photographs, which the respondent did not regard as sufficient. The respondent concluded that the burden of proving that the appellant was a family member of a relevant EEA citizen had not been discharged. The appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal on the ground that the decision did not comply with the Residence Scheme Immigration Rules or the Withdrawal Agreement, and elected to have the appeal determined without an oral hearing; the respondent did not oppose that course.