AL-NASHIF v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT 25 There were therefore no exceptional circumstances capable of destroying the family link between the first applicant and his children, the second and the third applicants. Further, Mr Al-Nashif and Mrs Saleh did not separate. 2. Whether there was an interference with the applicants' family life 114. The Court observes that no right of an alien to enter or to reside in a particular country is as such guaranteed by the Convention. As a matter of well-established international law and subject to its treaty obligations, a State has the right to control the entry of non-nationals into its territory (see, among other authorities, Boultif v. Switzerland, no. 54273/00, ECHR 2001-IX, § 39). Where immigration is concerned, Article 8 cannot be considered to impose on a State a general obligation to respect the choice by married couples of the country of their matrimonial residence and to authorise family reunion in its territory (see the above cited Gül judgment, § 38). However, the removal of a person from a country where close members of his family are living may amount to an infringement of the right to respect for family life as guaranteed in Article 8 § 1 of the Convention (see, the above cited Boultif judgment). 115. In the present case it is undisputed that the first applicant was a stateless person and that he and his wife, Mrs Saleh, who apparently was also a stateless person, were lawfully resident in Bulgaria on the strength of permanent residence permits. The couple had moved to Bulgaria in 1992, soon after their marriage, and had lawfully established their home there. Their children, the second and the third applicants, were born in Bulgaria, acquired Bulgarian nationality, and started school there. Therefore, the deportation of Mr Al-Nashif in 1999 interfered with the applicants' family life. 116. Such an interference will infringe the Convention if it does not meet the requirements of paragraph 2 of Article 8. It is therefore necessary to determine whether it was “in accordance with the law”, motivated by one or more of the legitimate aims set out in that paragraph, and “necessary in a democratic society”. 3. Whether the interference was “in accordance with the law” 117. It was undisputed – and the Court accepts – that Orders nos. 503 and 504 had a basis in the relevant domestic law. 118. The applicants alleged, however, that the applicable law lacked the clarity and foreseeability required by the concept of lawfulness as enshrined in the Convention, since it authorised the Ministry of the Interior to deport persons who had never been convicted or investigated on the basis of orders issued without examination of evidence, without the possibility of adversarial proceedings, and without giving reasons.