'We want to live a normal life'

Gurmeet Singh (26), from the Punjab in India and his wife, Doroda Chojka-Singh (27), from Wroclaw in Poland, are expecting their first baby

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"We have wanted this baby for a long time. We are so looking forward to him being born," says Doroda, sitting in their small apartment in Dublin. "But then Gurmeet gets this letter and we are so shocked and worried. It's all we can think of now," she says.

Gurmeet has been served with a "Section 3" letter by the Department of Justice notifying him of the Minister's intention to deport him. This is because, as a non-EU citizen, not having lived in another EU state before coming here, he does not qualify for residency.

This is despite his marriage to an EU citizen last year and the fact that he will be the father of an EU citizen in two months.

The couple met while working together in a Supermacs fast-food restaurant in 2005. He came to Ireland to study hotel management and English in 2001. She had come in 2004 because she could not find work in Poland.

"We were going out for about a year and then we married in November 2006," smiles Gurmeet, his arm around his wife. They married in a registry office in Dublin.

Gurmeet tells how he applied for a residency permit at the end of last year and despite being advised by his solicitor, Derek Stewart, that he may face difficulties due to the peculiar stipulation here that he must reside in another EU state before coming to live here, the couple were optimistic their plans to make a life in Ireland would proceed without a hitch.

Last week, however, Gurmeet received the department's letter.

He is making an application to be allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds but he has no indication how long a decision will take and in the meantime he cannot work.

Doroda is working as a sales assistant in Spar at the IFSC, she says. "I am very, very worried now," says Doroda. "We just want to stay and work with our children here. We fell in love and want to be together and live a normal life. That is all."