Revocation of EU Long-Term Residence Permit and Criminal Acquittal_ The Limits of Administrative Automatism

Revocation of EU Long-Term Residence Permit and Criminal Acquittal: The Limits of Administrative Automatism Good morning, I am Attorney Fabio Loscerbo, and this is a new episode of the podcast Immigration Law. In this episode, we examine a decision of the Regional Administrative Court of Emilia-Romagna, First Section, issued on 17 December 2025 and published on 9 January 2026, addressing a recurring and highly practical issue: the revocation of an EU long-term residence permit based on a criminal conviction that was later overturned. The case concerns a third-country national who had held long-term resident status for many years. The local police authority revoked the permit relying on a first-instance criminal conviction, deemed to indicate social dangerousness. Subsequently, however, that conviction was fully overturned by the Bologna Court of Appeal, which acquitted the individual with the broadest formula: because the fact does not exist. Despite this decisive development, the administration maintained the revocation and failed to carry out a genuine reassessment of the applicant’s position, even after the Administrative Court—at the interim stage—had expressly ordered a review in light of the acquittal. The Court ultimately upheld the appeal with a clear and firm reasoning: once the sole factual and legal basis of the measure—the criminal conviction—has disappeared, the revocation of the residence permit is deprived of any legal foundation. An administrative authority cannot rely on facts that no longer exist in legal terms, nor can it disregard a final acquittal delivered by the criminal courts. The judgment reiterates a fundamental principle: the EU long-term residence permit is a stable and enhanced legal status, which cannot be affected by automatic mechanisms or abstract assessments of dangerousness, but only following a current, concrete and legally sound assessment. This decision is particularly relevant in practice, as it provides an effective tool to challenge revocations and refusals based on outdated or overturned criminal proceedings, and it reaffirms the administration’s duty to comply with judicial decisions. Immigration law, in this context as well, remains administrative and constitutional law: no shortcuts, no automatism, no measures without real and existing legal grounds. See you in the next episode of Immigration Law.Questo episodio include contenuti generati dall’IA.