Residence rights of parents who are primary caregivers of Dutch children (Chavez-Vilchez)

On 10 May 2017, the EU Court of Justice delivered an important ruling on the residence rights of parents without a residence permit who take care of Dutch children. The verdict is named after one of the parents who brought the case to the Court of Justice: Chavez Vilchez.

The verdict can be found here.

The Court of Justice ruled that it is a violation of EU law if a Dutch child would be forced to move to outside the EU to follow his care-giving parent because this parent is not given a right of residence in the EU. To assess whether a child is indeed forced to move to outside the EU the authorities must consider which parent provides the actual, day-to-day care for the child. The best interests of the child must be decisive, more specifically the authorities should consider: the age of the child, the physical/emotional development of the child, the relationship the child has with both its parents and the consequences for the child were it to be separated from its primary caregiving parent.

If you are the parent of a Dutch child and have no residence permit but you can prove that you are taking care of your child, you may be able to get a residence permit based on the Court decision in Chavez-Vilchez. If you are living outside the Netherlands, with or without your Dutch child (for example: your child is living in the Netherlands, you are living abroad) and you can prove that you do take care of your child, you may be eligible for a special visa to be able to travel to the Netherlands to apply for a residence permit here.

◊ Read more in the news article: Naturalization, not with a Chavez-Vilchez residence permit?