In May 2022, the European Court of Justice ruled on a case concerning residence permits for parents of children who are citizens of the Union. The case concerned the case-law under which a third-country national, as parent of a minor child of Union citizens, must exceptionally be granted a residence permit under Article 20 TFEU if there is a relationship of dependency between the Union citizen child and the third-country national of such a nature that the Union citizen child, whose residence permit is refused, would be obliged to leave the EU together with the third-country national.
Newly, the judgment establishes that, in a situation where a minor child of Union citizen is living with both his parents and both parents of the child share the daily care of the child and the legal, emotional and financial maintenance of that child, there is a rebuttable presumption of the existence of such a relationship of dependency which could give rise to a derived right of residence under Article 20 TFEU for the third-country parent.
In the light of the judgment, the Danish Immigration Service decided on 23 August 2022 to suspend the processing of pending cases where the judgment may have an impact until the scope of the judgment was determined.
As a result of the ruling, the Immigration Service will, on its own accord, consider the need for reopening cases decided after 10 May 2017.
As a rule, the Immigration Service will not contact you if a decision has been taken in your case before 10 May 2017. You must therefore contact the Immigration Service yourself if you believe that you are covered by the judgment and therefore wish to have your case reopened.
Read more about the significance of the judgment for Danish practice here.
Our office has extensive experience in the application of EU law. If you believe that you are covered by the judgment or would like to discuss your case with us, please contact us.