A deeply personal immigration case caught public attention on Friday when the Cyprus Mail profiled Romani Youssef, an Egyptian national held at the Mennoyia detention centre awaiting deportation after exhausting asylum appeals. His Cypriot fiancée, six months pregnant, fears raising the child alone if he is removed. Youssef arrived in 2015, claimed asylum citing past religious persecution and lived on temporary work permits until his final rejection in 2024. Under Cyprus’ Aliens Law, he now faces a five-year re-entry ban. However, because he is the father of an unborn Cypriot child, lawyers argue that expulsion would violate the EU Charter’s provisions on family life. The case exposes a legislative loophole: if one parent is undocumented at the time of birth, the child may be rendered stateless even when the other parent is a Cypriot citizen. Parliament has been debating amendments since March, but no vote is scheduled. Migration advocates say such humanitarian quandaries are increasing as Cyprus accelerates deportations. They urge the government to adopt temporary suspension-of-removal mechanisms similar to those used in Germany and Italy when minors are involved. For multinational firms relocating staff to Cyprus, the episode is a reminder that dependant family members should secure the correct residence status early, and that pregnancy or marriage alone does not automatically halt enforcement actions.
Source: Cyprus Mail
