STOISITS: INACTIVE ADMINISRATION CAUSES PROCEDURAL DELAYS

An Austrian turned to the Ombudsman Board after having applied for a residence title for family members for her husband:

Her husband of Lebanese descent who had lived in Italy for twenty years had applied for a residence title for family reunification. The MA35 did not become active for four months. The reason had been missing documents. However, the MA35 had not informed the wife of the complainant about the missing documents. Hence, four months went by between the inquiry response and the request for further documents by the MA35.

Additionally, the complainants were confronted with even more complications when the authority had requested a visa application with the responsible Austrian representative authority after a principally positive evaluation. The husband did not need to apply for a visa since he had a long-term residence permit for Italy. The representative authority denied a visa for this reason and this led to further delays.

Finally, the procedure was finalized positively. The visa had been unnecessary – the MA35 accepted this fact after the Ombudsman Board’s intervention - and hence renounced.