All British and Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland will be be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes, the government has announced after a landmark court case involving a Derry woman over the residency rights of her US-born husband.
The move is a major victory for Emma de Souza ending a three-year battle to be recognised by the Home Office as Irish, a right enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).
De Souza said: “This is great news. To get a concession from the British government and a change in the immigration law is no small feat.
“It is incredibly satisfying to be considered as EU citizens and will be a great help to all the other families in my situation.”
Her husband, Jake, will now be allowed to remain in the UK indefinitely if he applies for the EU settlement scheme, an immigration status for all EU citizens wanting to remain in the UK post-Brexit.
We've been waiting a long time to see "the people of Northern Ireland" in that EEA category, for recognition of our unique status and our EU rights and entitlements. We've got a concession from the British Government and will be releasing a full statement on the changes shortly. pic.twitter.com/Q7n5hJX2rw
— Emma DeSouza (@EmmandJDeSouza) May 14, 2020
The Home Office made its rule change in parliament on Thursday, finally bringing immigration law into line with the 1998 peace deal, which allows anyone born in Northern Ireland to be British, Irish or both.
In court, the Home Office had argued the only way it could deal with 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 the case up saying it raised concerns that the British immigration law had not been updated to enshrine the GFA.
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 wide-reaching implications and enable all citizens in Northern Ireland the right to have a non-EU or non-EEA country spouse remain in the UK without having to go through the Home Office’s onerous and costly 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 going through the strict immigration route for non-EU or non-EEA spouses with no guarantee of success.
However it is only a temporary boon as any third country national who wishes to apply for settled status will only have until June 2021 to do so. This is the date the EU settlement scheme closes.
“While this is satisfying, it has not given legal effect to the Good Friday Agreement right to be Irish. Ireland updated its immigration laws to bring them into line in 1998 but the British did not,” said de Souza. “It is still an uphill battle.”
The Home Office announced the move in a “statement of changes in immigration rules” in the House of Commons on Thursday.
“The rule changes also mean that family members of British or dual British-Irish citizens from Northern Ireland will be able to apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
“This delivers on the commitment the UK government made in the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ agreement in January 2020 which restored the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland,” it said.
The Home Office said it would start accepting applications on 24 August and only those who are living in the country at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December this year would be eligible.
It also pointed out that De Souza lost her court case and the court had ruled that her nationality derived from the jurisdiction she was born in under the law.
It said the immigration rule changes “demonstrate the UK government’s continued and unwavering commitment to the Good Friday Agreement”.