Nicosia, Cyprus. The administrative court of appeal has ruled that authorities acted unlawfully by failing for years to decide on a citizenship application for the child of a Cypriot citizen.
In a unanimous judgment dated July 17 and made public on Wednesday, the court upheld the mother’s appeal, overturned an earlier administrative court ruling and declared the authorities’ inaction unlawful.
Application submitted in 2016
The case concerned an application filed in 2016 by a Cypriot mother seeking to register her child as a Cypriot citizen under the Civil Registry Law. No decision had been issued by the time the appeal was heard.
The administrative court had dismissed the original recourse, finding that the application had been submitted to the Civil Registry and Migration Department rather than directly to the competent authority, the council of ministers.
It had also ruled that citizenship applications fall within the discretionary powers of the council of ministers and that there had therefore been no failure to perform a legally required act.
Duty to examine applications
The court of appeal said the case did not concern whether the citizenship application should be approved, but whether the administration had met its obligation to examine the request and issue a decision.
It found that the mother was not seeking court approval of the application, but a response to a request concerning an executive administrative act.
The judges said Article 29 of the Constitution and the General Principles of Administrative Law require public authorities to examine applications and decide on them within a reasonable period.
Extended delay
The court highlighted that the mother had received no response from 2016 until at least 2022, when the first-instance judgment was delivered.
It concluded that the delay amounted to “an obvious failure” by the administration to fulfil its legal obligation to examine the application.
The court also accepted the mother’s argument that, even if the application had initially been submitted to the wrong administrative body, authorities were legally required to forward it to the competent authority and inform the applicant accordingly.
