Ali - Arbitrary deadlines

Ali and his wife arrived in Greece in 2017 with their children, to seek protection. They quickly integrated into society. When their asylum application was rejected, the asylum authorities referred their case to the Ministry of Migration for a humanitarian residence permit. Indeed, the law reserved the right to apply for it for foreign nationals who are particularly vulnerable or well integrated. Ali and his wife collected all the necessary documents and submitted their application in November 2020. In early 2021, the Greek government passed a law with retroactive effect, stating that applications submitted after May 2020 wouldn’t be examined by the authorities. Ali and his family’s application was rejected. The rejection of the family’s application violates an important principle in the justice system: It is forbidden to apply a new law to an event that occurred in the past, except if the retroactive application benefits the person. The family has made an appeal against this unfair decision.