A foreign student enrolled at the University of Bologna was refused renewal of her residence permit for study purposes because she had not reached the minimum number of exams required by the rules.
The case, however, involved a delicate personal and legal context. After leaving her family abroad and moving to Italy, the student experienced a serious personal and health difficulty, documented by medical certificates describing depressive symptoms that arose after the transfer. This condition significantly affected her university path and her ability to sit exams regularly.
In the refusal measure, the Police Headquarters mainly relied on the numerical requirement relating to exams and credits, without giving adequate weight to the medical documentation submitted and to the derogation provided when serious health reasons are duly proven.
An appeal was therefore brought before the Regional Administrative Court for Emilia-Romagna, arguing that the case could not be assessed through a merely automatic and formal reading of university requirements. Academic performance had to be considered in light of the concrete personal and health situation of the student.
The Court upheld the appeal, recognising that the administration had to give closer consideration to the documented health condition and to its impact on the study path. The decision reaffirmed an important principle: rules on the renewal of a residence permit for study purposes must be applied rigorously, but also reasonably, taking into account the concrete circumstances and the fundamental rights of the person.
This case shows that, in immigration and administrative law, behind every measure there is a personal story that deserves to be heard and assessed in its entirety. Legal protection does not only mean challenging an act; it also means bringing the person, their dignity and the real conditions that affected their life back to the centre of the procedure.
