The High Court dismissed three judicial review applications concerning family reunification and the effect of acquiring Irish citizenship on refugee status. In a judgment delivered on 26 February 2018, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys held that a person granted refugee status in Ireland automatically ceases to be a refugee on becoming an Irish citizen. No formal revocation of the refugee declaration is required, he ruled.
The cases involved applicants who had been recognised as refugees and later naturalised as Irish citizens. They challenged decisions affecting family reunification applications or, in the case of I.K., the refusal of a further application to revoke a deportation order. The cases were heard together. The court’s ruling addressed the legal issues raised; it did not grant any family reunification permission or decide whether I.K.’s second marriage was valid.
In M.A.M.’s case, the Minister withdrew an initial refusal of an application to reunite with her husband, then refused it on the ground that her Irish citizenship made her ineligible to apply under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996. In K.N.’s case, the Minister stopped processing an application concerning three family members and her son-in-law, also on the basis that section 18 did not apply to a citizen. The judge rejected arguments that the change in the Minister’s approach was discriminatory, created a legitimate expectation, or was arbitrary or procedurally unfair. He said earlier processing of such applications did not require the Minister to continue what the court considered an erroneous approach.
The judge also said that family members outside the State were not entirely without legal recourse: other routes, including the Immigration Act 2004 and the Non-EEA Family Reunification Policy, could be used to apply for permission to enter. He did not decide whether the applicants had a constitutional right to family reunification, saying that any discretion under those routes would have to be operated constitutionally if such a right existed.
I.K. challenged the refusal of a third application to revoke a deportation order. The judge said the challenge was a collateral attack on earlier decisions and that her claim depended on the rights of her second husband, who was not a party. He also identified three separate reasons to refuse relief in her case, including her period of evasion and representations about her prior marriage. He did not decide the validity of either marriage.
The court concluded that Irish law, as well as EU and international law, supported the automatic loss of refugee status upon acquiring citizenship. It dismissed each of the three applications.