In its judgment of 3 September 2020 in Joined Cases C 503/19 and C 592/19, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that a third-country national cannot be automatically refused long-term resident status on grounds of public policy under Article 6(1) of Directive 2003/109 simply because he or she has been convicted of any criminal offence.
The refusal of long-term resident status under Article 6(1) of Directive 2003/109/EC requires a number of factors to be taken into account and weighed up, namely, on the one hand, the seriousness or nature of the offence committed by the person concerned and the threat he or she represents to public policy or public security and, on the other hand, the duration of his or her residence in the host Member State and any possible ties with that Member State.
Taking all these factors into account a refusal of the status of a long-term resident requires an assessment on a case-by-case basis, which means that the person concerned cannot be refused long-term resident status on the sole ground that he or she has a criminal record of any kind.
Such an interpretation of Art. 6(1) of Directive 2003/109 is confirmed by the settled case law of the Court of Justice.
