The European Court of Justice on 07.09.2022 has clarified that the family members of EU citizens, who come from third countries, may not fall under the scope of temporary residence, as it is established in the Directive 2003/109/EC (the Long-term Residents Directive, or LTRD), such as seasonal workers or students. Therefore, they can directly submit the application for a long – term residence, providing that there is a proof of relative and dependency connection.
Particularly, for the Republic of Cyprus, before the enactment of the recent judgement, third – country nationals who are married to EU citizens or minor children below 18 could apply for Yellow Slip by granting the rights to work, social benefits and taxation. However, the rules did not provide the same rights to the dependents of EU citizens moving to the Member States.
With the introduction of the expected new changes, the third country nationals, including UK nationals residing in the EU after Brexit, will be entitled for the long – term residence permit and equal rights, like all EU citizens, satisfying a certain range of conditions, which will be specified on later stages.
At this point of time, the new measures introduced by the judgement are undergoing the legislative procedures which should be approved by the European Parliament and EU Council, before being applied in practice.
From our perspective, the new changes may cover such categories of families, as parents, grandparents and disabled relatives.
