Can 0023 FE0F be an emoji?

[Jules Bertholet]

The following sequences are listed in emoji-variation-sequences.txt
(https://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/emoji/emoji-variation-sequences.txt):

 > 0023 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) NUMBER SIGN
 > 002A FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) ASTERISK
 > 0030 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT ZERO
 > 0031 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT ONE
 > 0032 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT TWO
 > 0033 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT THREE
 > 0034 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT FOUR
 > 0035 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT FIVE
 > 0036 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT SIX
 > 0037 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT SEVEN
 > 0038 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT EIGHT
 > 0039 FE0F ; emoji style; # (1.1) DIGIT NINE

However, these sequences do not appear in emoji-sequences.txt
(https://unicode.org/Public/emoji/15.1/emoji-sequences.txt),
except in combination with U+20E3 as part of an Emoji_Keycap_Sequence.

Is it permissible to treat the sequence 0023 FE0F (without trailing 
U+20E3)
as an emoji? Is it recommended? Is it required?

Jules Bertholet