VANCOUVER - Vancouver immigration lawyer Shane Molineaux says China's restrictive family planning policies played a big part in the decision to allow his client to stay in Canada.

"She was ecstatic."

The unnamed woman arrived on the first of four boats that brought all the Chinese migrants to B.C. this summer.

Molineaux says she was thrilled with the news that she could stay in Canada. "She has spent four months in prison and it's been a hard struggle for her to keep her spirits up and when she found out that she was being released and that she'd won her refugee claim, she was understandably ecstatic," he says.

So far, thirty-six other Chinese refugee claimants have had their cases rejected.

Molineaux says another part of his client's refugee claim was the fact she could be placed in jeopardy if she went home to China.

He wouldn't elaborate further on that risk.

He says the woman will be in hiding while she plans her next step.