The High Court has dismissed a Nigerian man’s judicial review challenge to decisions refusing him residence rights based on his marriage to a Latvian national. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys held that the Minister for Justice was entitled to conclude that the marriage was one of convenience and refuse the man’s review application for a residence card.
The man arrived in Ireland in October 2009 and applied for asylum. After that application was refused, he married the Latvian national in January 2011. He received a five-year residence card as the spouse of an EU national in October 2011.
He said the couple separated in February 2015. In August 2016, he applied to renew his residence card on the basis of the marriage, using a form signed by both parties, but did not disclose their separation. The Minister refused the application in April 2017, citing insufficient evidence of the EU citizen’s activity in Ireland. After a review process, the Minister refused the application in July 2018, finding that the marriage was not bona fide and that the concerns raised had not been adequately addressed. The Minister relied on fraud or abuse of rights under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015.
In the judicial review, the man also challenged an October 2018 letter declining to accept his application for permanent residence. The court described that letter as little more than a reiteration or consequence of the earlier decision. After leave for judicial review had been granted, the Minister issued a clarification stating that the man’s permission was invalid from the outset and that the residence card had been revoked under the 2015 regulations.
The judge said the information before the Minister had been lawfully considered and supported the conclusion that the marriage was one of convenience. He rejected arguments that the Minister had treated the spouses’ separate homes as fatal to the application or that the Minister had made certain comments about the EU citizen’s Latvian links determinative. He also found that the man could not claim permanent residence or interim permission to live and work in Ireland through an application for which he was not eligible following the marriage-of-convenience finding.
The court dismissed the proceedings. It made no finding that the GNIB needed to take action concerning the Latvian national, but said it would encourage the bureau to contact an EU national involved in a marriage found to be one of convenience where necessary to protect that person’s rights.