European law does not require a minimum period of stay, nor to have family members or assets in the state in question, in order to keep the permit.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) establishes, in the judgment of 22 January 2022, that in order to maintain long-term residence it is sufficient to stay in EU territory for only a few days within a period of twelve consecutive months.
The Court interprets Article 9(1)(c) of Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003, following a query made by an individual concerning the loss of his right to long-term resident status in Austria, as the President of the Government of the Federal State of Vienna considered that he was to be considered “absent” during this period because he only resided for a few days per year over a period of 5 years.
Absence:
The CJEU does not share this view. In its reasoning, it stresses that the Directive does not contain any reference to the law of the Member States, so that the concept of “absence” must be understood as an autonomous concept of Union law and must be interpreted uniformly throughout the Union, regardless of the qualifications used in the Member States.
In this sense, the judges explain that, as it appears in the said European legislation and in accordance with the usual meaning of the term in everyday language, “absence” means the physical “lack of presence” of the long-term resident concerned in the territory of the Union, so that any physical presence of the person concerned in that territory may interrupt such absence.
The decision recalls that one of the purposes of the Directive is to avoid the loss of the right to long-term resident status, so that it is sufficient for the long-term resident national to be present, within the period of 12 consecutive months following the beginning of his absence, in the territory of the Union, even if such presence does not exceed a few days.
Therefore, the European Court concludes that if the Directive does not express a specific time or a certain stability such as that corresponding to the latter having his habitual residence or his center of interests in that territory, it cannot be required, as in the case intended by the Austrian Government, that there be an “effective and genuine link”, nor that the person concerned has, in the Member State concerned, members of his family or assets.
Fuente: Noticias Jurídicas