Family wins residency fight for senile mum

A Colombian-Swedish family is rejoicing after learning that a decision to deport their 78-year-old grandmother has been reversed on account of her deteriorating health.

• Family fights to keep aging mum in Sweden (18 Dec 12)

"A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders," daughter Maria Larsson told the Aftonbladet newspaper after hearing her mother, Luzlinda, would be allowed to stay in Sweden.

Luzlinda has lived in Sweden for the last two years with her only daughter's family, but their attempts to get permanent residency were rejected by the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket).

Subsequent appeals to the Migration Court of Appeals and the Migration Supreme Court of Appeals (Migrationsdomstolen and Migrationsöverdomstolen) were also rejected.

While they were waiting, the family had Luzlinda’s health assessed, which confirmed that she suffered from severe senility.

The family then filed new papers with the Migration Board asking that they at least delay the deportation process, a term known as inhibition in Swedish legal terms, on account of Luzlinda’s condition.

“We thought our case was solid. But it’s like the doctor's note and referring to similar cases just didn’t matter,” Luzlinda's son-in-law Mats previously told The Local.

The case echoed the now-famous tribulations of 91-year-old Ganna Chyzhevska, who, despite suffering from dementia, was to be deported to Ukraine before her family finally saw the decision overturned.

Luzlinda's family enlisted Chyzhevska's granddaughter Anna Otto in hopes of helping their case and Otto in turn brought in Maria Ferm, migration spokeswoman for the Green Party, to draw attention to their plight.

On Tuesday, the family learned that the Migration Board had reversed its deportation ruling.

In explaining the decision, officials pointed to Luzlinda's deteriorating health and the fact that she might die on the flight back to Colombia.

She has now been awarded permanent residency on health grounds, in contrast to the rejection from earlier in the year.

"The new information was so convincing and shows she can't make the trip to Colombia," Jesper Starkerud at the Migration Board told Aftonbladet.

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