Easier for non-EU citizens to be regarded as a dependent of a European family member

A judgment of the Court of Justice rules that a Member State cannot require a direct descendant of a person having the right of residence in that state to demonstrate he has unsuccessfully tried to support himself in his own country in order to obtain a residence permit

It gets easier for a third-country national to be regarded as dependent of a family member having the right of residence in a member state. According to a recent judgment of the Court of Justice in fact, a direct descendant who is 21 or older and is a third-country national, cannot be required by a Member State to have tried unsuccessfully to obtain employment or to obtain subsistence support from the authorities of his country of origin. It is a de facto extension of the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, regardless of their nationality.

The judgment concerned the case of a Philippian citizen, whoapplied for a residence permit in Sweden in 2011 as a family member of her mother, on whom she claimed that she was dependent. Her application was rejected since she had not proved that the money, which was transferred to her by her mother, had been used to supply her basic needs. Nor had she shown to have tried to obtain assistance by the social insurance and securitysystem in the Philippines.

According to the judgment issued today, these conditions are no longer to be necessarily shown in order to be regarded as dependent on a family member, being his/her direct descendent, having the right of residence in a EU Member State. Hence, the existence of a situation of real dependence must be established(that is, the material support provided by the Union citizen to that family member), but it not necessary to show its reasons. A Member State cannot require evidence of the unsuccessful job research, nor of the lack of assistance support from the authoritiesof his country of origin.

Ezio Baldari