Swedish court overturns family-permit refusal, but new rules apply
Sweden’s Migration Court of Appeal has overturned a family-permit refusal after ruling that a spouse’s application should count as a renewal. It ordered a fresh assessment under rules introduced on 1 October, rather than granting a permit.
The case concerned a man whose wife initially held EU long-term resident status in another member state. After she gained that status in Sweden, the Migration Agency treated his application as a first-time family-reunification claim and rejected it because she did not meet the maintenance requirement.
In its 11 November judgment, published on Thursday, the court said the legal basis remained the same: the same sponsor’s EU long-term resident status. Moving that status between member states did not make the spouse’s application new.
The distinction mattered under the earlier law, which exempted renewals from the maintenance requirement. But the court said the new family-reunification rules now apply to this case.
Those rules include maintenance and housing requirements, with a possible exception where special reasons exist. The Migration Agency must assess the application again.
The ruling concerns the specific EU long-term resident status available to non-EU nationals. It does not establish a general exemption for every family linked to a permanent residence permit.
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