An EEA citizen who becomes a UK citizen has the right to bring a non-EU spouse into the country, the European Court of Justice has ruled.
In Toufik Lounes v Home Secretary (Case C-165/16), the court decided the Home Office unlawfully refused permission for an Algerian husband to join his dual British-Spanish wife in the UK.
The Home Office argued the wife had lost her European Economic Area (EEA) national rights when she became a British citizen. Therefore, her husband could not claim residence as an EEA national family member, and she must follow the same immigration procedures as any other British national.
However, the court held the husband had a ‘derived right’ under EEA rules because his wife had exercised freedom of movement rights (but he wouldn’t if she had stayed in Spain).
