Coman and Others · C-673/16
Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber · 5 June 2018
Relu Coman, a Romanian citizen who had lived in Belgium, married his American partner in Brussels. The couple asked the Romanian authorities how they could live together in Romania for more than three months. The answer turned on whether EU free movement law recognised their marriage for residence purposes.
What the EU court decided
The Court of Justice held that the EU term spouse includes a same-sex spouse. Where an EU citizen genuinely resides in another member state under the relevant conditions and creates or strengthens family life there, the citizen’s home state must recognise a marriage lawfully concluded in a member state for the returning spouse’s derived residence right. Otherwise exercising free movement could mean having to leave a spouse behind.
What to establish before relying on Coman
The question referred to the court concerned residence. People comparing their circumstances should identify where the EU citizen actually lived, the basis of that residence, where the marriage was concluded and when family life developed. A marriage certificate establishes an important fact. Evidence of genuine residence and the wording of a refusal can be just as important. A wholly domestic situation needs its own legal analysis.
Read the Court of Justice judgment
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