In January 2018 the students of the Migration law Clinic started two new projects:

Effective remedies in visa cases

This project concerns preliminary questions to the Court of Justice (CJEU) from the disctrict court in Utrecht in a visa case. The case concerns the request of Sri Lankan nationals for a Schengenvisa for the Netherlands. On the basis of a bilateral agreement they needed to apply for this visa at VSF Global (a private organisation), which decides on visa application on behalf of Switzerland, which decides in its turn on behalf of the Netherlands. The visa were refused by VSF Global. The applicants submitted an objection against this rejection in the Netherlands. The Dutch authorities declared this objection inadmissible. They stated that they do not have the authority to decide on the visa applications. The applicants appealed this decision before the district court. The court asks the CJEU amongst others whether the right to an effective remedy as guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter is respected, if the decision to reject an application for a visa can only be appealed before an administrative or judicial body in the State, which has taken this decision on behalf of another State.

This project is supervised by Evelien Brouwer and Kees Groenendijk

Withdrawal of nationality of persons convicted of terrorism related crimes/persons who left the Netherlands to combat in Syria

This project concerns the withdrawal of Dutch nationality of persons, who have been convicted of a terrorism related crime or who have left the Netherland in order to combat in Syria. These persons were born in the Netherlands or have lived in the Netherlands for a very long time. Their Dutch nationality can be withdrawn, because they also have the Moroccan nationality. The project will address questions regarding amongst others non-discrimination, loss of EU citizenship and proportionality.

This project is supervised by Betty de Hart and Pieter Boeles

From October 2017 until December 2017 the students of the Migration Law Clinic worked on two cases, which are currently pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Withdrawal of residence permit of family members of a person who committed fraud

The first project concerns preliminary questions which were referred to the  Court of Justice by the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (AJD) on  20 September 2017. The case concerned of a family, of which the father had obtained a residence permit in order to work in the Netherlands. The mother and son had obtained a residence permit for family reunification and, afterwards, as long term residents. When the State Secretary found out that the father had committed fraud in order to receive a residence permit, he withdrew the residence permits of the whole family. The AJD asks the Court of Justice whether the Family Reunification Directive and the Long Term Residents Directive allow the State Secretary to withdraw the residence permits of the mother and son, taking into account that they were not aware that the father had committed fraud.

The project was supervised by Pieter Boeles and Martijn Stronks.

Ex nunc judicial examination and new asylum motives

On 4 October 2017 the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (AJD) referred questions to the Court of Justice about judicial review in asylum cases. The AJD wants to know whether asylum motives (reasons for international protection) which are first mentioned during the appeal phase should be taken into account by the first instance court. The AJD also asks the Court of Justice whether it makes a difference whether the asylum motives already existed, but were not mentioned during the administrative phase through the fault of the asylum applicant, or have come up after the decision by the decision-maing authority. Furthermore, the AJD asks whether it makes a difference whether it concerns an appeal in a first or a subsequent asylum procedure and whether the appeal court may refuse to take into account a new asylum motive in the light of the good order of proceedings.

The project was supervised by Marcelle Reneman and carried out in cooperation with the Strategic Litigation Committee of the Dutch Council for Refugees.

If you have suggestions for cases or topics for the Migration Law Clinic, you can contact the Clinic coordinator (migrationlawclinic@vu.nl). See also under ‘For Clients’.