Emma DeSouza and her US-born husband Jake thought someone at the UK Home Office had made a mistake when it refused him a residence card in 2016 because she had not renounced her British citizenship. The Home Office said she first had to renounce her status as a British citizen and could then reapply. “We thought it was a clerical error and it would be quickly overturned because everyone in Northern Ireland could be Irish or British or both,” the Derry woman said. An Irish woman being automatically identified as British was at odds, they felt, with the 1998 agreement protecting the Derry woman’s birthright to be Irish. “You can’t get on with your life and be a normal married couple,” said Emma.

Source: The Irish Times October 16, 2019 01:07 UTC