Chinese mother and Irish daughter cannot be deported, court finds

A CHINESE mother whose four-year-old daughter has Irish citizenship cannot be deported from Britain, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

The case, however, will not affect children of non-EU parents born in Ireland following the referendum to deprive them of automatic Irish citizenship.

Man Lavette Chen brought her case to the European Court after the British authorities tried to deport her.

In September 2000 she gave birth to her daughter, Catherine, in Belfast and the baby automatically got Irish citizenship as a result.

Mrs Chen already had a son in Beijing but because of China’s one-child policy she was forbidden to have another.

She left China when she became pregnant again and, on legal advice, had her daughter in Belfast so, as an Irish citizen, she would have the right to live in the EU.

Under the Good Friday agreement at the time anybody born on the island, including Northern Ireland, is an Irish citizen.

Mother and daughter moved to Cardiff in Wales after the birth and by moving from one EU member state to another fulfilled the necessary legal requirements for Catherine to have right of residence anywhere in the EU.

Last year the British authorities refused permission for a long-term residents permit to allow them to live in Britain.

They appealed to the European Court in Luxembourg to rule if they were entitled to live there under EU law.

Yesterday’s decision said: “To reject an application for a long-term residence permit submitted by a mother - who is a national of a non-member country - would render the child’s right of residence entirely ineffective.”

The court said the right of citizens of the European Union to reside in another member state is granted to every citizen of the union.

The fact she deliberately chose to have the baby in Ireland to get EU residency did not matter either as each member state has the power to decide its own citizenship rights.

The court decided Mrs Chen, even though she was not an EU citizen, could not be denied the right to live with her daughter in Britain, since this would deprive the child of her right of residency

The Chens both have sickness insurance and sufficient resources not to become a burden on Britain’s social assistance scheme.