Good Immigration Lawyer required

marcliff wrote:And just to press home the points in the post I made above, this is the actual EU Council Directive concerning the status of third country nationals who are long term residents
EU Directive 2003/109/EC

And a couple of cherry picked points

"The European Council, at its special meeting in Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999, stated that the legal status of third-country nationals should be approximated to that of Member States' nationals and that a person who has resided legally in a Member State for a period of time to be determined and who holds a long-term residence permit should be granted in that Member State a set of uniform rights which are as near as possible to those enjoyed by citizens of the European Union."

"In order to constitute a genuine instrument for the integration of long-term residents into society in which they live, long-term residents should enjoy equality of treatment with citizens of the Member State in a wide range of economic and social matters, under the relevant conditions defined by this Directive."

"Provision should be made that the right of residence in another Member State may be exercised in order to work in an employed or self-employed capacity, to study or even to settle without exercising any form of economic activity"

I think that clears up this bit about EU citizens and third country citizens being treated the same once permanent residency has been obtained.

Therefore, in the case in question, if the couple had been residing in France for a period of more than 5 years and been granted permanent residency in France then the immigration authorities in Alicante are wrong.

If, however, they had been resident in France for less than 5 years and had not been granted permanent residency there then it would appear the immigration authorities in Alicante are correct.