Home Immigration News Northern Ireland citizens must register to identify as Irish, tribunal told

Northern Ireland citizens must register to identify as Irish, tribunal told

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Author-Jake and Emma DeSouza

The right of Northern Irish people to identify as British, Irish or both does not automatically change their citizenship unless they formally register any change, an immigration tribunal has been told.

Fundamental questions over the enforceability of the 1998 Good Friday agreement have been raised in a test case over the residency rights of an American who is married to a Derry woman.

Emma DeSouza found herself at the centre of a legal battle after her application in 2015 for a residence card for her US-born husband, Jake DeSouza, was rejected.

Any EU citizen living in the UK in accordance with EU regulations can bring their family with them. But the Home Office initially turned down the application on the grounds that Emma DeSouza was British, even though she had never carried a British passport.

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