When he left abusive French wife, EU residency status went too

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — An Algerian national whose relationship with a French woman formed the basis for his residency permit lost the right to stay in Belgium after moving out to escape domestic violence, the European Court of Justice ruled Thursday. 

The opinion from the Luxembourg-based court notes that nationals of European Union countries have a free right of movement throughout the bloc but non-EU citizens must meet strict immigrations requirements for residence. 

“The EU legislature indicated that it wished to leave to the discretion of each Member State the responsibility for determining the conditions under which an autonomous residence permit should be issued, in the event of divorce,” the decision states. 

A., as the man is identified in court documents, married the woman in his home state of Algeria in 2010 and followed her to Belgium two years later, a few months before the couple's first child was born.

On the basis of his marriage to an EU national, A. was granted a five-year residency permit in Belgium. The permit would have expired on its own in December 2018, but instead the government ordered him to A. in 2016 upon learning that he was living alone in Belgium while his wife and daughter were living in France.

The ruling notes that A. "was forced to leave the matrimonial home because of acts of domestic violence which he suffered at the hands of his wife." A. brought a domestic-violence complaint in March 2015, spent time in a refuge and then established his new residence in Tournai, Belgium, on May 22 of that year.

Though the Belgian Council for Asylum and Immigration Proceedings annulled the deportation order against A., the state terminated his residence again in 2017. This time the council referred A.'s appeal to the Court of Justice. 

The 15-judge panel found that, because A.’s wife left before divorce proceedings were initialized, Belgium was not obliged to allow him to remain. “The applicant in the main proceedings did not join his wife in her Member State of origin," according to the ruling. "He initiated divorce proceedings on 5 July 2018, that is, almost three years after the departure of his wife and their daughter from the host Member State, which does not appear to represent a reasonable period."

Further, at the time of the investigation, A. could not show the Belgian authorities that he was able to financially support himself. The court cited his financial instability as justification for Belgium’s decision to deport him. “The benefit of retaining the right of residence of those family members, before acquiring a right of permanent residence, is, however, subject to … conditions, namely that the person concerned shows either that he or she is a worker or that he or she has sufficient resources for himself or herself and for his or her family members not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State,” the court wrote. 

A. and his wife's divorce was finalized in 2018. Under Thursday’s decision, the man would either need to apply for his own right of residence in Belgium or move to France and apply for residence there, on the basis that his daughter, who is a French national, resides there. 

Under the 2004 Citizens' Rights Directive, non-EU nationals may continue to reside in EU countries after separating under a few specific circumstances, including if it is “warranted by particularly difficult circumstances, such as having been a victim of domestic violence.” 

Follow @mollyquell

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit