(Reference for a preliminary ruling– Area of freedom, security and justice– Immigration policy– Directive 2003/109

15On 6September 2018, ZK, a Kazakh national, submitted an application for renewal of his long-term resident– EU residence permit to the Head of Government of the Province of Vienna. The latter refused that application by decision of 9July 2019.

16On 12August 2019, ZK brought an action against that decision before the referring court.

17The referring court notes that, although it is common ground that the applicant in the main proceedings, during the period from August 2013 to August 2018 and thereafter, never stayed outside the territory of the European Union for a period of 12 consecutive months or longer, it is also common ground that the applicant was present, during that period, in that territory for only a few days per year. The latter point was taken into account by the Head of Government of the Province of Vienna as justification for the refusal to renew the long-term resident– EU residence permit requested by the applicant in the main proceedings.

18It is apparent from the order for reference that the applicant in the main proceedings produced, before the referring court, a legal analysis carried out by a group of experts of the European Commission in respect of legal migration, according to which the condition relating to the absence from the territory of the European Union, laid down in Article9(1)(c) of Directive 2003/109, must be interpreted strictly, to the effect that only the physical absence from that territory for a period of 12 consecutive months entails the loss of long-term resident status under that provision, and that it is irrelevant in that regard whether the long-term resident concerned was, during the relevant period, also physically established or had established his or her habitual residence in that territory.

19The referring court considers that such an analysis, which it is inclined to endorse, supports the arguments of the applicant in the main proceedings. If that analysis were followed, even short stays, or, as in the present case, stays of only a few days per year, would be sufficient to exclude the application of Article9(1)(c) of Directive 2003/109, with the result that the applicant in the main proceedings would retain his long-term resident status.

20In those circumstances, the Verwaltungsgericht Wien (Administrative Court, Vienna, Austria) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:

‘1.Must Article9(1)(c) of Directive [2003/109] be interpreted as meaning that any physical stay, no matter how short, of a third-country national who is a long-term resident in the territory of the [European Union] during a period of 12 consecutive months precludes loss of the status of long-term resident third-country national under this provision?

2.If the Court answers Question1 in the negative: what qualitative and/or quantitative requirements must stays in the territory of the [European Union] for a period of 12 consecutive months satisfy in order to preclude loss of the status of long-term resident third-country national? Do stays during a period of 12 consecutive months in the territory of the [European Union] preclude loss of the status of long-term resident third-country national only if the third-country nationals concerned had their habitual residence or centre of interests in the territory of the [European Union] during that period?

3. Are rules of the legal systems of the Member States, which provide for loss of the status of long-term resident third-country national where such third-country nationals resided in the territory of the [European Union] for a period of 12 consecutive months, but had neither their habitual residence nor centre of interests there, compatible with Article9(1)(c) of Directive [2003/109]?’