After twelve years in Cyprus and a decade-long legal battle for protection, Egyptian national Romani Youssef faces deportation, leaving his pregnant Cypriot partner to prepare for childbirth alone.
Speaking to en.philenews from the Menogeia detention centre, the 36-year-old asylum seeker described how a routine stop over unpaid fines spiralled into months of detention, system rejections, and state scepticism over his growing family. Despite offering to undergo DNA testing to prove paternity and pleading for conditional release under electronic monitoring, Youssef remains in administrative limbo while authorities process his removal.
“Now there is a chance I will be separated from the woman I chose, who chose me, and our baby is coming in a matter of days,” Youssef said.
With his partner Anthi facing high-risk pregnancy complications without financial or practical support, the couple’s fight highlights the rigid intersection of migration policy, administrative detention, and family unity in Cyprus.
Romani moved to Cyprus from Egypt in 2014 on a work visa. In 2017, he applied for asylum, having left Egypt due to unsafe circumstances and his life being in danger, he told en.philenews.
Romani said he explained the situation to officials and submitted some documents, which eventually led to an interview in 2019. In the interview, which lasted around six and a half hours, Romani said he was asked for his “life story.” Three or four months later, his application was rejected, he said.
After the rejection, Romani took his case to court; at the time, he said, you did not need a lawyer and had the right to represent yourself. In court, he presented his medical report and evidence that he would be unsafe in Egypt, requesting a forensic doctor to analyse his case, he added.
“I had to leave, because my life was in danger. I had to leave at the first opportunity.”
After around two and a half years, he continued, the case was sent back to the Asylum Service, where it stayed for another two and a half years.
He told en.philenews that he was asked to present more evidence that returning to Egypt would be dangerous, explaining that he does not have a police report because of the nature of the situation, but the whole event is documented online. The evidence he presented was not accepted by officials, he said. Romani explained that he needed asylum due to his religion, but due to the lack of papers, his proof was not accepted. Romani then faced his second rejection, after returning to court with a lawyer.
Romani and his partner, Anthi, were already together when authorities closed his case, he said. After some time together, they decided they were ready for a baby. When Anthi became pregnant, doctors placed her on bed rest for the first two to three months, as there was a chance the couple could lose the baby, Romani explained.
During this time, Romani went to pay Anthi’s phone bill because of her condition and was stopped by police in Limassol due to unpaid fines, he said. After being arrested, they informed him that he was irregular; Romani asked if he was being held due to his fines or irregular status, in order to know what his rights were, but was not given a clear answer, he told en.philenews.
“Some said it was because I was irregular, others because of the fines.”
Romani said he spent ten days at the central police station in Limassol and was eventually taken to the Nicosia Central Prisons to settle his fines, which he did in thirteen days.
“From the moment I entered the Limassol police station, I had declared that my partner was pregnant.”
After this, Romani set about finding out how much he had to pay to be released, sort out his papers, and marry Anthi, he said.
Romani was told he was irregular and had to return to Egypt after he paid the money and walked out of the gate. “I said: I have been fighting for so many years to prove that I cannot go back. I would not spend the best years of my life fighting for papers if I did not have such a serious problem.”
He told Migration that he had a family here, and a pregnant partner who acknowledged their relationship, as well as all the medical documents regarding the baby, he explained. Romani said Migration told him “it was all just words,” and offered to provide any documents required, but was told that it did not work like that, and he would have to return to his country.
He was taken to the Menogeia detention centre on June 9, where he remains at the time of publication. Romani said that he later hired a lawyer who sent in a request to Migration for the couple to marry properly, which was rejected. He explained that the rejection came as he applied after his arrest, and said that if they had applied earlier, it would have been accepted.
Romani and Anthi hired another lawyer to appeal against the decision; the case went on for two months, and they lost, he said. He told en.philenews that the judge did not ask to speak with him or “[his] partner, a Cypriot citizen,” as witnesses.
Romani told en.philenews that he asked to speak to a migration officer “father to father” and explained that his partner was due to give birth in 40 days if she went the full nine months, or sooner due to stress and being alone with nobody to help her.
“I am not a tourist. Cyprus is not my home country, but it is my second country. I have spent my life here.”
Romani said he questioned why his child must be born without its father, why his family must be split up, and why his partner is alone with nobody to help her financially. Romani said that the fight had drained his family financially, and they are now “below zero.” Anthi said she does not “even have a cent.”
Romani said that after going to court a third time and making a sworn statement that the baby was his, he was told he had two options: to leave on his own or be deported. He said his biggest question was “What sin must the baby pay for, to be born without its father?”
He told en.philenews that he asked Migration to let him out under whichever procedure they wanted, under any condition, with a tag and with address checks. He continued, saying Anthi has been on her own for five months now, and they have broken into savings meant for the baby.
He explained that he does not want to go above the law, and will accept any procedure Migration requests, but feels that the situation should not have spanned five months without any answers as to what their family’s life will look like. Romani told en.philenews that he considers his situation to be a humanitarian issue and wants a chance to stay with his family.
His deportation date has not been set, he said, adding that the worst part was living with the anxiety from the lack of clarification. Romani said that Anthi wonders whether the father of her child will be with her in difficult times.
En.philenews reached out to the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection, which said that Romani’s deportation has been postponed pending clarification of matters relating to his case. They said they could not share any other details.
“I stayed irregular, I admit it. But I did not stay irregular because I wanted to. I stayed because I cannot go back; I have no life there.”
Both Romani and Anthi told en.philenews that authorities questioned the paternity of the child; Anthi said that police implied she became pregnant in order to keep Romani in the country. Romani said he told authorities that he is willing to pay to analyse the child’s DNA before birth, but wants a written document stating that they have requested it. Through his lawyer, authorities declined, and said the baby must be born first.
“We did not have the baby so I could stay, as they say. I love my partner. When we started the relationship there was no baby. It was about her.”
Romani added that he is 36 years old, and that it makes sense to start a family now. He said that there is no way he would bring a soul into the world to change his status, and that he wants to take on the responsibility of being a father. He continued, saying that Anthi is not to blame, adding: “It looks as though she is paying a penalty because she chose a foreigner, an Egyptian Christian.”
Anthi told en.philenews that if Romani goes to any other country, she will go with him, and that she has no support from anyone. She also explained that her lawyer told her that Migration was not to blame for the situation, instead faulting the police.
“Who are the police to separate a family?”
