F.A.Y [Nigeria] v The Minister For Justice [No. 2] (Approved)

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       The central question in this case is whether the Minister for Justice (" the Minister ") erred in concluding that the Applicant was lawfully resident in the State on specified dates during the four-year period from 31 January 2018 to 31 January 2022.� �The significance of this question lies in the fact that it is only if the Applicant was undocumented for that continuous period that he would be eligible to avail of an administrative scheme that was put in place by the Minister to regularise the status of long-term undocumented residents in the State.�

       The answer to this question hinges in turn on the status of certain temporary permissions to reside in the State that were given to the Applicant while he was challenging a refusal to grant him a residence card.� The Applicant contends that all rights to reside (including temporary rights) were rendered invalid from the outset when his residence card was revoked, such that he was never lawfully resident in the State and meets the criteria of the Scheme.�

       An alternative argument advanced by the Applicant is that, if he was lawfully resident in the State, this was on the basis of rights conferred by the EU law and he cannot now be deported under domestic law.�

       The events and their precise chronology are not substantially in dispute and are important in these proceedings.� The relevant dates and events are set out here: