Spain denies residency to foreigner with domestic violence record

Europe

Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that a man be denied Spanish residency because of previous convictions of domestic and gender-based violence.

The ruling, reported by Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, explained that the father who applied for residency on the basis that his daughter was born in Spain was denied it because it would not be in the best interest of the young girl or her family.

The man, who is from Ecuador, was also issued with a restraining order to prevent him from approaching his family in Spain.

Under Spain’s Ley de Extranjería, a clean criminal record in both the country of origin and Spain is usually required in order to be eligible for Spanish residency but an exception can be made when it is shown that the absence of one of other parents would be denying the rights of the child to a family life.

However the Supreme Court ruled that the nature of the previous convictions held by the father and the potential threat he could pose to the family outweighed the “right to a family life” argument.

The judges also took into account the fact that other members of the family had been registered in Spain since 2006 and 2008 while the father had only applied in 2016, “reflecting the true family situation at that time”, the ruling said.

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