Court annulled the Migration Department’s refusal to accept an application for a residence permit from a foreign national holding international protection in another EU Member State
2024 12 10
On 10 December 2024, the Regional Administrative Court adopted a decision in administrative case No. eI2-15783-979/2024, annulling the Migration Department’s decision refusing to accept a Nigerian refugee’s application for a residence permit in Lithuania.
The applicant entered the EU through Italy, where he was granted international protection. He later moved to Lithuania and established a family. After his Italian residence permit expired, he applied to the Lithuanian authorities for a residence permit. The Migration Department contacted the Italian authorities regarding his legal status but received no response. Despite this, it refused to examine his application.
The court held that the Migration Department failed to ensure an objective assessment of the application, as it focused on the applicant’s irregular stay and formal documentation requirements, while completely failing to assess the best interests of the applicant’s child, his family life, and the fact that he was the sole caregiver of a minor child.
This case is one of Sienos Grupė’s strategic litigation cases aimed at ensuring that children born into families where at least one parent is a foreign national in an irregular migration situation can grow up under the care of both parents.
Note: following the court decision, the foreign national was granted a residence permit in Lithuania.