An adopted Mongolian female (referred as A) was stranded in Mongolia during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Public Security Police’s (PSP) Residence and Stay Affairs Department decided to cancel her residency, but the Court of Second Instance (TSI) disagreed with the police and stressed that it is not a valid reason to cancel her residency permit, the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) said in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, a Macau woman (referred as B) adopted A as her daughter and on February 3, 2016 A received a non-permanent residency permit to unite with her adopted mother. The statement said that A renewed the permit twice, but when A applied to renew it for the third time on September 3, 2020 before she went to university in Portugal, the police rejected her application. The statement said the reason the police gave was that between February and September 2020, A and B had only stayed in Macau for 79 and 90 days respectively, adding that the two were not living together in Macau at that time. The statement added that A explained that she and her mother went to Mongolia on February 20 and were planning to return on February 29 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were not able to return to Macau until July 4. The statement also pointed out that A said that she is currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree programme in Portugal, majoring in marketing and advertising.
After analysing A’s explanation, the statement said, the police believed that, firstly, being stranded in Mongolia was not a valid reason as during the COIVD-19 pandemic, the government urged residents not to leave the city but the two still decided to leave. The statement added that the police said that the government had never not allowed Macau residents to return to the city, adding that as both hold a Macau ID card, they could have sought help from the Chinese embassy in Mongolia. The statement also said that the police believed that, secondly, A’s current degree course is also being offered in Macau, so that she could have stayed in the city to pursue her bachelor’s degree here. Therefore, the statement pointed out, the police assumed that if A would not be living with B for the next three years in Macau due to her degree course, the police decided not to approve the renewal of her temporary residence permit.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak approved the decision on January 5, 2021, but A was dissatisfied with it, so she appealed to the Court of Second Instance.
According to the statement, the TSI panel of judges said that the term “habitual residence” means a place where a person tends to return to even after being away for a short or long period of time. The panel said that due to special reasons, if a person needs to stay away for more than six months but he or she has the intent to return to Macau, then the city is still considered as his or her habitual residence.
The panel said in the statement that considering the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the fact that A and B decided not to return to Macau was a valid and logical reason because they were worried about their health and safety, adding that, therefore, being away between February and July was deemed to be a valid reason.
Meanwhile, the statement added, even though the police decided that A could not consider Macau as her “habitual residence” because she is currently studying for a degree in Portugal, the panel of judges still deemed the reason given by the police invalid as Macau residents have the right to choose where to receive their education, and just because the city’s universities offer a similar degree course does not necessarily mean that A must pursue her education in Macau.
Moreover, the statement also said that A has been living constantly in Macau since she was 10, and received a secondary school certificate of education from a local school. Consequently, A has evidence showing that she considers the city her “habitual residence”. The statement underlined that therefore the TSI panel deemed A’s appeal valid and rejected the police’s decision to cancel her temporary residency permit.
