Two grandmothers to be deported

Court says Egyptian and Russian not entitled to stay with family in Finland

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The Supreme Administrative Court on Monday ruled against two elderly foreign women who wanted to stay in Finland with their families.
      The split decision means that Egyptian citizen Eveline Fadayel and Russian citizen Irina Antonova are not to be granted residence permits in Finland. This means that there are no legal obstacles to their expulsion from Finland.
      The implementation of the ruling is the responsibility of the police.
     
Fadayel, who was born in 1945, appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court after her application for a residence permit had been denied by the Finnish Immigration Service and the Helsinki Administrative Court.
      Fadayel moved to Finland to live with her sons and grandchildren nearly three years ago after becoming a widow. She suffers from diabetes, and says that she has no family in Egypt.
      However, under Finnish law, grandparents are not considered part of the nuclear family in a way that would entitle them to benefit from family unification. The court also refused to make an exception for humanitarian reasons.
     
The court felt that rejecting an extended residence permit is not “clearly unreasonable” in light of Fadayel’s state of health, the contacts that she has established in Finland, or other humanitarian reasons. Two of the eight members of the court disagreed with the decision.
      Fadayel’s son Maher Gerges was shocked by the court’s decision.
      “This is abandonment. We will not let mother die alone.”
     
Antonova, who was born in 1928, applied for a change last autumn’s negative decision by the Helsinki Administrative court on her application for a residence permit. However, the court rejected the application.
      The ailing Antonova has been living with her daughter after coming to Finland in 2008 on a visitor’s visa.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Court rejects appeal over negative residence permit of Egyptian grandmother (4.9.2009)

See also:
  Lutheran Church: Finland deports based on insufficient information (25.2.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat