Emma de Souza has won a three-year battle to be recognised by the Home Office as Irish
Following an earlier report on the issue, the Home Office has announced that it will amend its rules to bring its policy in line with the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement (the “GFA”) which allows anyone born in Northern Ireland to identify as British, Irish or both meaning all British and Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland may now be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes. Ireland updated its immigration laws to conform to the GFA in 1998 but the British did not. The changes do not address or give legal effect to the GFA right of persons born in Northern Ireland to be Irish.
The action was initially brought by de Souza when the application for her American husband’s residency, which had been brought using the simpler, less expensive route available for EU citizens, was rejected by the Home Office on the grounds that she was British. De Souza was told she would need to renounce her status as a British citizen in order to benefit from the provisions available to EU citizens.
The rule change on the part of the Home Office means family members of British or dual British-Irish citizens from Northern Ireland will be able to apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme without the need to use the Home Office’s onerous and costly immigration system.
The win is short-lived however as any third country national who wishes to apply for settled status in this way has only until June 2021 to do so.
The Home Office said the immigration rule changes “demonstrate the UK government’s continued and unwavering commitment to the Good Friday Agreement” and will start accepting applications on 24 August.
