The case concerned two Syrian nationals, whose asylum application was rejected as inadmissible by the State Secretary for Justice and Security bon the grounds that they were granted international protection by the Bulgarian authorities, on 26 November 2020 and 12 August 2021 respectively. The applicants appealed against this decision before the Court of the Hague and stated that according to recent amendments of the Bulgarian legislation (Article 42(5) of the Law on Asylum and Refugees, LAR), already granted international protection could be withdrawn on the grounds that applicants did not renew their residence documents within 30 days of expiry.

By decision of 27 June 2022, the Court of the Hague rejected the appeal of the applicants as unfounded. The applicants appealed further before the Council of State.

The Council of State reiterated its findings in a case ruled on the same day, namely Applicant v State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid). The Council of State concluded that in Bulgaria, the failure to renew the residence permits in time did not automatically lead to the termination of international protection, but merely to the initiation of a procedure in which all facts and circumstances were taken into account before a decision on withdrawal was taken. According to the Council of State’s considerations, withdrawal proceedings were only initiated if an applicant had not renewed the residence permit for at least three years after expiry. The court decided that the applicants failed to make it plausible that their international protection would be terminated because they did not renew their resident permits in Bulgaria. In any case, the Council of State considered that even if their status would be withdrawn in Bulgaria, they could litigate the cases in Bulgaria.

The Council of State decided similarly in other cases pronounced on 1st November 2023:

• Netherlands, Council of State [Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State], State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid) v Applicants, No 202206277/1/V2, ECLI:NL:RVS:2023:3967, 01 November 2023.
• Netherlands, Council of State [Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State], State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid) v Applicants, 202205772/1/V2, ECLI:NL:RVS:2023:3966, 01 November 2023. 
• Netherlands, Council of State [Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State], State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid) v Applicants, 202206284/1/V2, ECLI:NL:RVS:2023:3968, 01 November 2023.