Northern Ireland woman says Home Office ‘won’t give up’ legal fight to deny her right to be Irish in husband’s visa battle Emma DeSouza argues the UK Government is undermining her Irish citizenship rights under the Good Friday Agreement

A Derry-born woman, who has been locked in a three-year citizenship dispute with the Home Office, says the Government is continuing to deny her the right to identify as Irish.

Emma and Jake DeSouza, who was born in the US, married in 2015. But when Emma’s visa application for Jake’s spousal right to live in Northern Ireland was rejected, she was told it was because she had made the request as an Irish national.

The Home Office argues that as Emma was born in Northern Ireland, she must reapply for the visa as a British citizen. But the 30-year-old claims this undermines her Irish citizenship rights under the Good Friday Agreement.

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Under the Belfast Agreement, people born in Northern Ireland can choose to be British citizens, Irish citizens or have dual citizenship.

‘A human rights issue’

A tribunal judge ruled in favour of the DeSouzas last November, and the Home Office was not successful in its appeal of this decision to the first-tier tribunal. However, it was granted permission to appeal to an upper tribunal.

The dispute has lead to Jake, 29, from California, having to surrender his passport and the right to work and travel for two years – and Emma says he was denied the chance to visit his grandmother in the States before she passed away.

He has since been granted leave to travel, but the case will return to court on 26 November and Emma says the Home Office “just won’t give up”.

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Since we’ve gone public we’ve had many others get in touch to say the same has happened to them Emma DeSouza

She told i: “It’s very much a human rights issue. I have never held a British passport.

“They are either ignoring the Good Friday Agreement or don’t understand it. I felt so guilty that Jake didn’t get to say goodbye to his grandmother because I’m choosing to be an Irish citizen but it’s my right to.

“Since we’ve gone public we’ve had many others get in touch to say the same has happened to them. The Government says Brexit will not affect Irish citizens at all but it’s making everyone nervous that this is going on now.”

Lobbying for the people of Northern Ireland

‘I’m fighting for protection for the people of Northern Ireland because we worry that they won’t have the same rights after Brexit’ Emma DeSouza

Emma said with Jake unable to work, the battle with the Home Office has taken a financial and emotional toll for the first three years of their marriage.

The coffee shop manager, who lives in Belfast, has now set up a GoFundMe page to help fund her legal fight.

“We’ve been successful twice yet the Home Office continue to appeal against us,” she said. “We suspect that the Home Office is using a senior barrister against us, and that they are going to test the constitutional integrity of the Good Friday Agreement itself so we need to hire a senior barrister at extra cost. We have not been granted legal aid.”

Emma says that despite the stress of the battle, she feels compelled to fight for the citizenship rights of herself and others and has travelled to Westminster to lobby on the issue.

“I’m fighting for protection for the people of Northern Ireland because we worry that they won’t have the same rights after Brexit.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment whilst there are ongoing legal proceedings.”