Brussels, 17/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Member states cannot require someone over 21 from a third country to prove, in order to be considered a dependant member of the family of an EU citizen in the context of a request for a residency permit, that he or she has genuinely tried unsuccessfully to find work or to obtain a subsistence allowance in his country of origin.
In a ruling on 17 January 2014 in case C-423/12, the European Court of Justice answered a question from the Stockholm court of appeal. Mrs Reyes, a Filipino passport-holder aged over 21, unemployed in the Philippines, saw her request for the right to stay in Sweden rejected as the dependent child of her mother, who is of German nationality, on the grounds that Reyes did not demonstrate that the cash that she was regularly sent by members of her family in Europe was used to pay her board and lodging and access to the healthcare system in the Philippines - she did not show how the welfare and insurance system in the Philippines could help her. She provided evidence of gaining a qualification in the Philippines and following two training courses there. The Swedish court wanted to know whether a member state can demand that in order to be considered a dependent child and therefore have the right to residence papers as a member of the family, a direct descendant over the age of 21 had to prove that he or she had attempted in vain to find work or to receive welfare from the country of origin and/or had tried in any other way to make a living. Also, whether the fact that a family member is deemed to have reasonable chances of finding work and is planning to work in the member state in question has any impact when it comes to interpreting the criterion of being dependent.
The Court of Justice said no to both questions. It pointed out that for a direct descendant aged 21 or over to be considered “dependent” of an EU citizen, genuine dependence had to be established when the person asked to be allowed to join their family member (thus the inability for the individual to meet his or her vital needs and the need for material aid in the country or origin or the country where the individual comes from), but it is not necessary to determine the reasons for the said dependence. The fact that an EU citizen regularly and for a significant period pays a sum of money to that descendant, necessary in order for him to support himself in the state of origin, is such as to show that the descendant is in a real situation of dependence vis-à-vis that EU citizen. Additional requirements like those mentioned by the Swedish court would make it excessively difficult for an individual to benefit from the right to stay in the host country, explains the Court of Justice. (FG/transl.fl)