Derry woman Emma DeSouza has that she is ending her legal battle with the UK Home Office for her right to be recognised as Irish.
Mrs DeSouza and her husband Jake had appealed an immigration tribunal ruling which found that people born in the North are automatically British, until they renounce their citizenship.
She pointed out that she views herself as Irish and has never been British, noting that the Good Friday Agreement gives people in the North the right to Irish, British or both.
She originally took the cases in order to ensure her US-born husband would retain the right to remain in the UK after Brexit on the basis of her Irish citizenship.
We want to thank everyone for your ongoing support & kindness through this legal challenge.
We are withdrawing our application to appeal to the Court of Appeal because we have won on the point of law in our case - the Home Office now concedes the principle & accepts our argument pic.twitter.com/9dWxNBPacs
— Emma DeSouza (@EmmandJDeSouza) May 21, 2020
Earlier this week, the couple secured something of a concession after UK Home Office announced in the UK Parliament that people born in the North would be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes.
However, the change will only remain in force until the EU settlement scheme closes in June 2021.
Our full statement on the withdrawal of our appeal. The British Government finally recognizes that there is a conflict between UK immigration law & the Good Friday Agreement – we now need the Government to recognise that this conflict continues through domestic UK citizenship law pic.twitter.com/v5qnwh7TMC
— Emma DeSouza (@EmmandJDeSouza) May 21, 2020
In a statement, the couple said they would continue their campaign to push for full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement into the future, but said the concession had removed the foundation for their legal challenge.
“Therefore, we have been left with no other option but to withdraw our application to appeal,” they said.
“We know that many will be disappointed by this news as our work to address the inconsistencies in the implementation of legislation from the GFA has highlighted that there is so much more at stake here than just the changes we achieved in our case.
“We recognise and share in your disappointment. The changes to the immigration rules whilst enormously welcomed and beneficial to many do not fully address all the underlying issues plaguing this region.
“The British Government has failed to give domestic legal effect to the birth-right provisions of the GFA and continues to automatically confer British citizenship on all the people of Northern Ireland, even if they identify as Irish.”
They said the disappointment should not overshadow what is an “unbridled win worth celebrating” and said Families, “have and will continue to be reunited thanks to these changes and everyone in NI will benefit from the government's recognition of the rights provided under the GFA.”
We will continue the We Are Irish Too campaign & continue to push for full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement & the principles of parity of esteem, mutual respect & equality - we are not giving up.
— Emma DeSouza (@EmmandJDeSouza) May 21, 2020
The couple said they will continue their campaign for full implementation of the GFA by UK authorities.
“The British Government finally recognises that there is a conflict between UK immigration law and the Good Friday Agreement and we now need the government to recognise that this conflict continues through the automatic conferral of British citizenship on those who do not want it.”
Earlier this week, Mrs DeSouza joined Sean Moncrieff to talk about the case:
