Background

Adrian Coman is a Romanian. He married his male partner, Claibourn Robert Hamilton – a US citizen – in Belgium in 2010 and the couple currently lives in the US. In 2012, Mr Coman asked the Romanian immigration authorities about obtaining a residence permit for his spouse. He was told that a permit would be refused because the Romanian Civil Code bans the recognition of same-sex marriages performed abroad. However, if Mr Coman’s spouse had been a woman, the marriage would have been recognised automatically and she would have been entitled to a residence permit ipso facto.

The couple sought judicial review, Continue reading →