[2025] UKUT 00349 (IAC)

The appellants are a married couple who were born in Albania in 1973 and 1975, respectively. They married in Albania in 1997 and came to the UK in 1998 and 1999. They made separate asylum claims, in which each claimed to have been born in Kosovo and to be a minor. In due course, although by slightly different legal routes, they were each granted first refugee status and indefinite leave to remain and then British citizenship in their false identities.

The appellants have four children, all of whom were born in the UK before their parents’ deception came to light: in October 2000, November 2003, July 2006 and March 2015. All four children are British citizens.

In 2022, the respondent became aware of the appellants’ true identities. On 2 December 2022, she decided to deprive Mr Mujaj of his British citizenship on the grounds that it had been obtained by deception and on 15 June 2023 she took the same decision with regard to Mrs Mujaj. At the date of both decisions, all four of the children were still living in the family home, and the three eldest were 22, 19, and 16. The youngest child was seven years old at the time of the father’s decision, and eight at the time of the mother’s.

The appellants appealed separately to the First-tier Tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed their appeals, but in a decision promulgated on 4 November 2024, the Upper Tribunal set aside the decisions of the First-tier Tribunal in part and retained the appeals for remaking.

These appeals now raise three questions: