The case concerned a Turkish national who lived in Austria since January 1992 and who received a return decision to Türkiye which was lodged by the BFA on 27 October 2021 and upheld by the Federal Administrative Court with judgement of 11 January 2022. The return decision was based on Section 52(5) of the Aliens Police Act in conjunction with Section 9 BFA Procedure Act and on the fact that the applicant was convicted several times for criminal and administrative offences. The applicant lodged an onward appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court.

The Supreme Administrative Court referred to its previous case law and decided that when a return decision was adopted, its proportionality had to be assessed in the light of the right to private and family life pursuant to Article 8 of the ECHR in conjunction with Section 9 of the BFA Procedure Act. According to the Supreme Administrative Court’s considerations, the Federal Administrative Court had failed to consider that the applicant has entered Austria at the age of twelve, had been lawfully resident in Austria for more than twenty years without interruption, has enjoyed education and childhood in Austria and has lost most personal ties in Türkiye due to his long absence. Therefore, the Supreme Administrative Court annulled the contested decision and ruled that even in light of the repeated criminal offences, the balancing of interests by the Federal Administrative Court was unjustifiable.