EU Court: Permanent Residents Shall Be Exempt From Visa Requirement
The European Union Court of Justice has ruled that family members of EU citizens who are not nationals of a Member States but hold a permanent residence card, should be exempt from the entry visa requirement for the territory of the Member States.
The decision has been taken after the Administrative and Labour Court of Budapest asked the EU Court on the legality of an administrative decision to fine the Ryanair airline back in 2017.
The budget airline was fined with €3,000 for allegedly not taking the necessary measures as a carrier, to ensure that a passenger was in possession of the required travel documents to enter Hungary.
The passenger in question was of Ukrainian* nationality, holding a Ukrainian non-biometric passport and a valid permanent residence card issued by the UK authorities, in compliance with the Directive on the right of citizens of the EU and their family members to freely move and reside within the territory of the Member States. The traveller, however, did not own an entry visa.
“Considering that, in the absence of a visa, this passenger did not have all the travel documents required to enter Hungarian territory, the police did not authorise him to do so and asked Ryanair to bring him back to London,” a press release of Court of Justice reads.
In its judgement, the Court rules that despite the provision of the Directive relating to exemption from the visa requirement which grants that exemption only to holders of a residence card for a family member of an EU citizen, it does not mean that it excludes from the benefit of such an exemption the family members of an EU citizen, who are in possession of a permanent residence card.
According to the Court’s decision, family members of an EU citizen who have already obtained a residence card, irrespective of the type of card, should benefit from the exemption as well.
“In that regard, the Court points out that the permanent residence card may be issued only to persons who have already obtained a residence card as a family member of an EU citizen and lawfully resided for an uninterrupted period of five years with the EU citizen concerned in the host Member State, benefiting during that period from the visa exemption attached to the possession of such a card,” the Court explains.
In addition, the Court emphasises that the Directive is intended to ensure the gradual integration of EU citizens and their family members who are not nationals of a Member State into the society of the Member State in which they reside.
The achievement of that objective would be jeopardised if the acquisition of the right of permanent residence by the family members of an EU citizen resulted in the loss of the visa exemption they enjoyed before acquiring that right of permanent residence.
The Court holds that a family member of an EU citizen who is not a national of a Member State, but who holds a permanent residence card, is exempt from the requirement to obtain a visa in order to enter the territory of the Member States.
The Court further highlights that the provisions applicable to the Schengen area, specifically state that they do not affect the freedom of movement of EU citizens and their family members.
*Back then Ukrainian nationals still needed Schengen visas to travel to the Schengen Area.