>> Lithuania denies residency to gay husband of citizen who married in the Netherlands
[spacer]
Le Département des Migrations lituanien a refusé cette semaine de délivrer un titre de séjour temporaire à l’époux de l’un de ses citoyens, originaire du « Bélarus », Etat le plus autoritaire et le plus isolé d’Europe, allié notamment de la Russie.
Le couple, qui s’est marié au Pays-Bas, avait fait sa demande dans le cadre d’un regroupement familial. Mais, si la Lituanie fait partie de l’Espace Schengen, malgré son adhésion à l’Union européenne, le pays ne reconnaît aucune forme d’union pour les homosexuels et par conséquent aucun droit ni parenté aux deux hommes.
Evelina Gudzinskaite, responsable du service, a ainsi indiqué « avoir consulté le ministère de l’Intérieur avant de prendre sa décision, cette affaire constituant une première en matière administrative. Les mariages de même sexe ne sont pas autorisés : la démarche n’entre donc pas dans les modalités d’obtention d’un droit de résidence » pour regroupement familial.
Les hommes ont toutefois la possibilité de faire appel dans les 14 jours auprès d’un tribunal régional. Passé ce délai, le conjoint étranger risque l’expulsion. « Un non-sens » pour ce dernier, qui ne comprend pas que l’on puisse refuser de lui fournir un titre de séjour en tant que mari d’un citoyen de l’UE, tandis que leur union a été conclue en toute conformité avec la réglementation des États membres qui l’autorise.
Joëlle Berthout
stophomophobie.org
[spacer]
>> A Lithuanian man married his Belarusian partner in Holland but when they tried to return to his home the Belarusian was refused a temporary residency permit despite Lithuania’s EU membership.
European Union member state Lithuania is refusing to recognize the same-sex relationship of one of its citizens after he married another Eastern European man in the Netherlands.
The couple had sought a temporary residency permit for the Belarusian man. However Lithuania’s Migration Department refused to recognize the relationship.
Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is banned in the areas of employment, education and access to goods and services in Lithuania but it is yet to provide any form of legal recognition for same-sex couples at a local level and they may only adopt as single parents.
Before denying the appeal the Migration Department consulted with the European Law Department of the Ministry of Justice which told it there was no barrier to the Belarusian man being recognized as the man’s spouse.
« It does not make sense to reject the right to residence to a spouse of an EU citizen, when the marriage was concluded in line with the rules of a specific member-state and is acknowledged by 13 European countries,’ the European Law Department’s advice to the Migration Department reads.
However the Migration Department falls under Lithuania’s Ministry of the Interior which ordered it not to provide the residency permit despite Lithuania’s obligations to its European partners.
« Since this case was the first of its kind and it is setting a precedent, we turned to the Ministry of the Interior for an opinion, as this institution is responsible for migration policy, » Migration Department acting head Evelina Gudzinskaite told The Lithuania Tribune.
« The Ministry of the Interior responded that same-sex marriages are not allowed in Lithuania and such a marriage is not recognized in Lithuania. »
The couple have only 14 days to appeal the decision at the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court.
After that the Belarusian man may face deportation back to Belarus – a non-EU member state with an even poorer human rights record for LGBTI people than Lithuania.
