Filipino guest worker wins legal fight to stay in Hungary with husband and newborn

A Filipina guest worker has won a final court ruling in Hungary after authorities attempted to deport her, despite her husband and newborn son being Hungarian citizens. The Budapest-Capital Regional Court ruled that the family must be allowed to stay together, affirming that Hungary’s strict immigration regulations cannot override EU law.

Pregnancy, job loss, and deportation

We previously reported on Rena, who came to Hungary from the Philippines as a guest worker and was employed as a machine operator at a car parts factory. There, she met her future husband, Hungarian IT specialist Péter Gulyás. The couple married, and Rena soon became pregnant. Due to being classified as a high-risk pregnancy by her doctors, she was no longer able to work at the factory.

According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Rena had previously taken leave due to an injury without issue. However, this time her residency permit was withdrawn, and just two months after giving birth, she was ordered to leave the country. The ruling meant Rena would have had to return to the Philippines—either alone or with her newborn—to initiate a family reunification process that could realistically take years.

EU law takes precedence over local regulations

The family sought help from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, an advocacy group that argued EU law should take precedence over domestic statutes and that the specific circumstances of the case must be taken into account.

Central to their legal argument was three-month-old Peti. The breastfed infant is, under EU law, considered to be in a “relationship of dependency” with his mother, meaning separation could cause serious and potentially irreversible harm. EU regulations clearly state that parents of EU citizens in such dependencies cannot be expelled from EU territory.

Court rules to preserve family unity

The Budapest-Capital Regional Court overturned the immigration authority’s decision. The judge emphasised the dependent relationship between mother and child, ruling that Rena must be granted long-term residence rights in Hungary.

Gábor Győző, an attorney with the Helsinki Committee, said the verdict prevented a major human rights violation and kept the family together. “Thanks to the ruling,” he noted, “little Peti will hopefully get to choose when and how he discovers his mother’s homeland—voluntarily, with his parents, and not by force at three months old.”

Rena and her husband want to raise their son in Hungary and are hopeful that, following the court’s decision, the young mother will soon be able to return to work.

Click for our guest workers archive.

Read also:

• Hardships continue: Filipina guest worker Rena faces deportation despite Hungarian husband and newborn child
• Hungary’s new immigration rules impact long-term non-EU residents and elderly

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