A paternity test costs him his residence permit, then 3,736 euros 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 their daughter was born in 2017 and the couple separated in November 2019, his permit was converted into a residence permit allowing him to stay with the child under 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 of Asylum and Migration withdrew his permit retroactively, effective 20 October 2023. The Moroccan man challenged the 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 had instead prevented a Moroccan man from legally establishing a biological paternity that was nevertheless acknowledged by everyone.

On Bladi.net : article 123031

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.

That 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. Just one month without a right to reside was therefore enough to call into question all five required years.

A month without a permit, but several administrative errors

In its decision issued on 4 September, the District Court of The Hague confirmed that the Moroccan man had indeed had 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 shortcomings in the administration’s refusal. It had initially considered the interruption to have lasted until 28 January 2025, before acknowledging before the court that the disputed period ultimately lasted only one month.

Above all, after 2023, the ministry had changed the way it applied a rule that had nevertheless remained unchanged. It was unable to explain precisely when this change had occurred or why comparable cases had previously been treated differently. Nor did it respond satisfactorily to the Moroccan man’s argument based on equal treatment.

The administration had finally 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.

On Bladi.net : article 122886

The court therefore annulled the decision of 31 July 2025 and ordered the minister to reconsider the case. The state will also have to pay 3,736 euros in procedural costs.

This victory remains limited: the courts are not reinstating the permit withdrawn after the paternity test and are not directly granting long-term resident status. They are merely requiring the administration to reconsider its decision by clearly explaining its policy and respecting the Moroccan man’s right to be heard.