In this lecture presentation recorded as part of a live webinar Denis Edwards considers the following question:
‘Alan is a Polish citizen and a carpenter. He came to Belgium three years ago with his wife, Caly, who is Russian, and their two children, Ben and Dora, both of whom attend schools in Brussels.
After the family arrived in Belgium, Alan was very busy as a carpenter. Recently, however, Alan has had too little work and cannot make ends meet. Last month, he applied for unemployment benefits. The Belgian authorities have now refused his application for these benefits on the ground that he did not have a ‘right to reside’ in Belgium derived from EU law. In particular, he was not an employed person under EU law before he applied for the unemployment benefits.
Caly and the children have also left Alan after Caly met and moved in with another man, Tom, who is an Ukrainian citizen. Caly has applied to the Belgian authorities for social security benefits to assist her in paying the rent for her new apartment in Brussels. The authorities have refused this claim on the grounds that Caly is not an EU citizen.
Tom has just been served notice to leave Belgium because his immigration permission has expired. He now claims that he is looking after Ben and Dora while Caly is working as a waitress and that the children would be very upset if he had to leave Belgium.
Advise Alan, Caly and Tom.’
Duration: 61 minutes (approx)
Lecturer: Denis Edwards
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