British and Irish born in Northern Ireland obtain EU citizenship rights | Immigration and asylum

All British and Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland will be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes, the government announced after a landmark court case involving a Derry woman over the residence rights of her U.S.-born husband. .

The move is a major victory for Emma de Souza, ending a three-year battle to be recognized by the Home Office as Irish, a right enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

De Souza said: “This is great news. Getting a British government grant and a change in immigration law is no small feat.

“It is incredibly satisfying to be considered an EU citizen and it will be a great help to all the other families in my situation.”

Her husband Jake will now be able to stay in the UK indefinitely if she applies for the EU settlement scheme, an immigration status for all EU citizens who wish to stay in the UK after Brexit.

The Home Office made its rule change in parliament on Thursday, finally aligning the immigration law with the 1998 peace agreement, which allows anyone born in Northern Ireland to be British, Irish, or both.

In court, the Home Office had argued that the only way it could handle the case was for De Souza “to renounce her status as a British citizen.”

After several unsuccessful legal challenges, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney took up the case, saying he expressed concern that British immigration law had not been updated to enshrine the AMG.

Coveney described the move as “a good and important step” and paid tribute to “Emma for her principles, determination, and her impactful campaign.”

The change in law will have far-reaching implications and will allow all citizens of Northern Ireland the right to have a spouse from a non-EU or EEA country stay in the UK without having to go through the onerous and expensive Central Office immigration system.

It means that British citizens in Northern Ireland will automatically have more rights than their counterparts in England, Wales and Scotland, who will still have to spend thousands of pounds crossing the strict immigration route for non-EU or EEA spouses without collateral. of success.

However, it is only a temporary blessing, as any third-country national who wants to apply for liquidation status will only have until June 2021 to do so. This is the date the EU settlement scheme closes.

“While this is satisfactory, it has not given legal effect to the Good Friday Agreement right to be Irish. Ireland updated its immigration laws to bring them online in 1998, but the British did not, ”de Souza said. “It is still an uphill battle.”

The Interior Ministry announced the move in a “statement of changes to immigration rules” in the House of Commons on Thursday.

“The rule changes also mean that members of the family of dual Irish British or British citizens of Northern Ireland will be able to apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

“This is in keeping with the commitment that the UK government made in the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ agreement in January 2020 that restored the executive power-sharing power in Northern Ireland,” he said.

The Home Office said it would begin accepting applications on August 24 and that only those living in the country at the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 of this year would be eligible.

He also noted that De Souza lost his court case and the court ruled that his nationality was derived from the jurisdiction in which he was born under the law.

He said the changes to the immigration rule “demonstrate the continued and unwavering commitment of the UK government to the Good Friday Agreement.”