SUDITA KEITA v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
private and/or family life (see Aristimuño Mendizabal v. France, no. 51431/99, § 66,
17 January 2006, and B.A.C. v. Greece [no. 11981/15, § 35, 13 October 2016]). In
particular, if a residence permit allows the holder to reside within the territory of the
host country and to exercise freely there the right to respect for his or her private and
family life, the granting of such a permit represents in principle a sufficient measure
to meet the requirements of Article 8. In such cases, the Court is not empowered to
rule on whether the individual concerned should be granted one particular legal status
rather than another, that choice being a matter for the domestic authorities alone (see
Ramadan v. Malta, no. 76136/12, § 91, ECHR 2016 (extracts), and cases cited
therein).
122. Having said that, the Court reiterates that measures restricting the right to
reside in a country may, in certain cases, entail a violation of Article 8 of the
Convention if they create disproportionate repercussions on the private or family life,
or both, of the individuals concerned (see Maslov, cited above, § 100, and Kurić and
Others, cited above, § 355). Moreover, the Court has held that in some cases ...
Article 8 may involve a positive obligation to ensure an effective enjoyment of the
applicant’s private and/or family life (see paragraphs 119-120 above). In this
connection, it is helpful to reiterate that the boundaries between the State’s positive
and negative obligations under Article 8 do not lend themselves to precise definition.
The applicable principles are nonetheless similar. In both instances regard must be
had to the fair balance which has to be struck between the general interest and the
interests of the individual; and in both contexts the State enjoys a certain margin of
appreciation (see, amongst many other authorities, Fernández Martínez v. Spain [GC],
no. 56030/07, § 114, ECHR 2014 (extracts), and B.A.C. v. Greece, cited above, § 36).
123. The positive obligation under Article 8 may be read as imposing on States an
obligation to provide an effective and accessible means of protecting the right to
respect for private and/or family life (see Roche v. the United Kingdom [GC],
no. 32555/96, § 162, ECHR 2005‑X, and Abuhmaid, cited above, § 118, with further
references; see also Kurić and Others, cited above, § 358). Article 8 requires, amongst
other things, a domestic remedy allowing the competent national authority to deal
with the substance of the relevant Convention complaint and to grant appropriate
relief, although Contracting States are afforded some discretion as to the manner in
which they conform to such an obligation (see Abuhmaid, cited above, § 118)”.
(b) Application of these principles to the present case
32. In view of the nature of the applicant’s complaint and the fact that it
is primarily for the domestic authorities to ensure compliance with the
relevant Convention obligation, the Court considers that the principal
question to be examined in the present case is whether, having regard to the
circumstances as a whole, the Hungarian authorities, pursuant to Article 8,
provided an effective and accessible procedure or a combination of
procedures enabling the applicant to have the issues of his further stay and
status in Hungary determined with due regard to his private-life interests
(see, mutatis mutandis, Hoti, cited above, § 124, with further references).
33. In this respect, the Court notes that the applicant has been living in
Hungary since 2002 with no recognised status in any other country (see
paragraphs 5-22 above). He has been living together with his Hungarian
girlfriend since 2009 and has also completed a vocational training course
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