A paternity test costs him his residence permit, then €3,736 for the state

The man had held a residence permit since November 2016, obtained on the basis of his relationship with a woman identified by the initial S. After the birth of their daughter in 2017, followed by the couple’s separation in November 2019, his permit was converted into a permit authorizing his residence with the child on the basis of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, a parentage assessment established that he was not the girl’s biological father. On 8 January 2024, the Dutch Minister for Asylum and Migration withdrew his permit retroactively as of 20 October 2023. The Moroccan challenged this measure before the administration, but did not bring the matter before a judge after his appeal was rejected. The withdrawal therefore became final.

In another recent case, Moroccan law, on the contrary, prevented a Moroccan man from legally establishing biological paternity that was nevertheless acknowledged by everyone.

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Since January 2025, the man has held a new permit, valid until 2030, this time based on his family life with his current wife. He then applied for European long-term resident status.

This application was rejected on 21 May 2025. To obtain this status, he had to prove five years of legal and uninterrupted residence in the Netherlands. However, the retroactive withdrawal of his former permit had created an interruption between 20 October and 21 November 2023. A single month without a right of residence was therefore enough to call into question all five of the required years.

A month without a permit, but several errors by the administration

In its decision issued on 4 September, the Hague court confirmed that the Moroccan did indeed have no formal right of residence during that one-month period. He therefore cannot ask the court to consider this interruption nonexistent.

Nevertheless, the court identified several flaws in the administration’s refusal. It had initially considered the interruption to have lasted until 28 January 2025, before acknowledging before the judge that the disputed period was ultimately limited to one month.

Above all, the ministry had changed its method of applying a rule that had nevertheless remained unchanged after 2023. It was unable to explain precisely when this change had taken place or why comparable cases had previously received different treatment. Nor did it respond satisfactorily to the Moroccan’s argument based on equal treatment.

Finally, the administration had rejected his appeal without even hearing him, although his arguments did not make it possible to regard his challenge as manifestly unfounded. Another Moroccan woman recently had her visa refusal overturned after failing the Dutch test six times.

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The court therefore annuls the decision of 31 July 2025 and orders the minister to reconsider the case. The state must also pay €3,736 in procedural costs.

This victory remains limited: the courts do not restore the permit withdrawn after the paternity test and do not directly grant long-term resident status. They merely require the administration to reconsider its decision, clearly explaining its policy and respecting the Moroccan’s right to be heard.