Convicted Vietnamese man wins right to stay in Czechia because of his one-year-old daughter

A Prague court has ordered the Czech Interior Ministry to reconsider its decision to strip a Vietnamese national surnamed Nguyen of his permanent residence permit after he was convicted of an intentional violent crime. The case hinges on the man's one-year-old daughter, born to a partner who is officially married to another man but lives permanently in Czechia.

Under the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, the ministry is required to revoke a permanent residence permit if a foreigner receives a final conviction for an intentional crime carrying a sentence of more than three years. However, as the court ruled, this particular case demands a closer examination of how the man's forced deportation to Vietnam would affect his family's life.

"A decision to cancel the residence permit and require the foreigner to leave Czech territory could mean that his minor child is unable to fully exercise — or exercise at all — her right to parental upbringing and care, including the right to maintain contact with her parent," the ruling by Judge Veronika Buriánová states.

According to the judge, the ministry's decision affects not only the foreigner's rights but also those of his child. "When determining the best interests of the child, the state authority is obliged to assess the potential consequences for the child's life should the father be forced to leave the country. It must examine how the child's care would change, including financial support," the court noted.

Only after the Interior Ministry has examined the possible consequences and determined, on that basis, what serves the child's best interests can it weigh the public interest — revoking the convicted man's residence permit — against his right to respect for family life, the judge explained.

According to case documents, Nguyen has lived in Czechia since 2001. His current partner, with whom he had the daughter, has been officially married since 2016 to another man who lives in Vietnam together with their shared ten-year-old son.

Ministry officials justified their original decision by arguing that it is not in the public interest for a foreigner holding a residence permit — who has been finally convicted of a violent crime — to remain in the country. "The difficulties the family faces are a consequence of his unlawful actions," ministry representatives told the court, adding that even the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not require both parents to live with a child in the same country and allows for situations in which a child is separated from a parent.

Source: novinky.cz

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