Facts
X. (born 1987) from Kosovo married the Serbian national Y. (born 1980) residing in the canton of St. Gallen on 29 April 2008 in her home country. On 21 August 2008, she entered Switzerland through family reunification, where she was granted a residence permit to stay with her spouse on 8 September 2008. On 26 May 2010, Y. informed the St. Gallen residents' registration office that he and his wife were now living separately. On 16 February 2011, the St. Gallen Migration Office decided not to (further) extend X.'s residence permit, as the marriage had only lasted around one year and nine months and X. could not be considered a victim of domestic or marital violence within the meaning of the Foreign Nationals Act, contrary to her statements. X. appealed against this decision.Considerations
The Federal Court upholds X.'s appeal. It states that psychologically relevant violence, which a person affected cannot be expected to tolerate in a free society, may also exist if (no) criminal behaviour has been established or if the corresponding proceedings have been discontinued. The cantonal authorities wrongly failed to further investigate the circumstances described by X. and the counselling centre for women affected by violence, and based solely on the criminal law assessment and the corresponding questioning of the person concerned, they already denied a sufficient intensity of the impairment.
The Federal Court refers the case back to the lower instance for supplementation of the facts and a new decision (detached from the criminal proceedings) regarding the severity of the suffered impairments and the effects on social reintegration…