The Court Annulled the Migration Department’s Decision Refusing to Review a Foreigner’s Deportation After a Child Was Born
2025 01 22
On 19 April 2024, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo requested the Migration Department to reconsider his deportation from Lithuania and entry ban, citing changed circumstances: the deportation decision had not been enforced for over two years, the applicant had met a Lithuanian citizen, they had twins (Lithuanian citizens), and were living together. The Migration Department rejected the request on 12 July 2024. The applicant appealed to the first-instance court.
On 7 November 2024, in administrative case No. eI3-14105-422/2024, the Regional Administrative Court annulled the decision, noting that the applicant’s situation had changed significantly: he had twins (Lithuanian citizens), and their mother is a Lithuanian citizen. The court found that the Migration Department failed to consider the best interests of the children, their age, and their physical and emotional needs. The department appealed, but on 22 January 2025, the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court rejected the appeal and upheld the first-instance decision (administrative case No. eA-1160-789/2025).
This case is one of Sienos Grupė’s strategic cases to ensure children born in families with at least one foreign parent subject to deportation grow up with both parents.