Key facts of the case:
A Chinese national requested permission for a temporary residence in The Czech Republic. The Ministry for Homeland Security asked the applicant to eliminate inadequacies in the request – there had been two different addresses where he had claimed to live. One stated in a lease contract which was part of the request and a different address in a contract of health insurance. The other inadequacy was insufficiently proved close family relation with an EU citizen. The applicant added only an already presented statutory declaration of Mrs.Ch. L. who claimed that they live together, and, if needed, suggested to carry out an oral testimony of Mrs.Ch. L. Furthermore a few months later, the applicant added to the request another proof – a decision of another public authority(Czech Republic foreign police)n. CPR-8226-6/ČJ-2011-9CPR-C220 which was based on proven fact, that there is a close relationship between the applicant and Ch.L and that they live with each other and do raise a minor. The Ministry didn’t decide in his favor. The applicant appealed to the Commission for deciding foreigner’s issues and the appeal was turned down. The Applicant filed a suit in a first instance administrative court. The court ruled in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
Outcome of the case:
The court stated that it is in the interest of the applicant to prove the allegation and that the public authority can’t do its own investigation, for it is obliged to respect the right for a privacy and family life guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by Article 10 (2) of the Charter of fundamental rights and freedoms(Czech constitutional act) and – when applied on situation regulated by European Union law – Article 7 of The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. However, the Ministry and the Commission did not evaluate substantial proof, which was the decision of the foreign police (mentioned above), who found in this decision that the conditions for awarding the permission for a temporary residency were fulfilled. Therefore the Supreme Administrative Court revoked decisions of the former deciding bodies and transferred it back to The Ministry for a repeated hearing.
The Supreme Administrative Court points out, that the proceeding based on s.87b (2) of an Act on residency of foreigners is a proceeding about an application lodged by a foreigner, who demands something on the Czech Republic public authorities, particularly an award of the residence status, which means, that it is in his interest to claim and to prove the fulfillment of the above specified legal conditions. It is in his interest to approach with due respect to the proceeding and to be active during the proceeding by providing trustworthy statements and proofs, because only from those statements and proofs can the public authority find out and verify the fulfillment of both conditions regarding the private and family life of the applicant and other people, with whom he claims to lead a family life and shares a house. The Prerogatives of a public authority to obtain those fact through investigation are rather restricted, for it is an applicant’s private sphere, under a protection of a fundamental right to respect private and family life as it is stated in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in Article 10 (2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms(Czech constitutional act) and – when applied to situation regulated by European Union law – Article 7 of Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European union. The Public authority at this proceeding about the application can base its decision only on what the applicant proves – it can go as far as the applicant allows it to go. The impossibility or unwillingness to claim the fulfillment of the conditions and to prove their fulfillment goes entirely into an account of the applicant and leads to the failure of the application.
Nejvyšší správní soud zdůrazňuje, že řízení dle § 87b odst. 2 zákona o pobytu cizinců je řízením o žádosti cizince, který orgány České republiky o něco žádá, konkrétně o udělení pobytového statusu, z čehož plyne, že je v jeho vlastním zájmu tvrdit a osvědčit splnění shora rozvedených zákonných podmínek. Je v jeho vlastním zájmu, aby k podání žádosti a k řízení o ní přistupoval se vší vážností a vyvinul procesní aktivitu ve formě předestření hodnověrných tvrzení a hodnověrných důkazů o nich, neboť pouze z jeho tvrzení nebo prostřednictvím jím předložených důkazů a učiněných důkazních návrhů může správní orgán v řízení zjistit a ověřit splnění obou podmínek, jež se týkají soukromého a rodinného života žadatele a dalších osob, s nimiž má tvrzený rodinný vztah a s nimiž sdílí společnou domácnost. Možnosti správního orgánu zjišťovat tyto skutečnosti jsou značně omezené, neboť jde o sféru soukromou, pod ochranou základního práva na respektování soukromého a rodinného života ve smyslu čl. 8 Úmluvy o ochraně lidských práv a základních svobod, resp. čl. 10 odst. 2 Listiny základních práv a svobod a – při aplikaci na situaci, na niž dopadá unijní úprava – čl. 7 Listiny základních práv Evropské unie. Správní orgán v tomto řízení o žádosti může vycházet jen z toho, co uvede a osvědčí žadatel, resp. nemůže dál, než kam jej žadatel (a jeho rodinní příslušníci) pustí. Neochota nebo nemožnost tvrdit splnění podmínek a prokázat jejich splnění jde za těchto okolností plně k tíži žadatele a vede (pouze) k tomu, že žadatel se svou žádostí neuspěje.