Facts
The appellant, a Macedonian national, married a woman entitled to settle in Switzerland on 27 December 2001. On 23 August 2002, he entered Switzerland and was granted a residence permit, which was regularly extended. In 2006, he was convicted of attempted serious bodily harm and received a prison sentence, and was also warned under foreign police law. The appellant repeatedly applied for a settlement permit, which was each time rejected. On 19 June 2017, he again applied for a settlement permit, which was rejected by the Migration Office of the Canton of Zurich. The appeal against this decision was unsuccessful.
The appellant lodged an appeal in public law matters with the Federal Court and requested the annulment of the judgment of 17 April 2019 and the grant of a settlement permit. The Migration Office and the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) did not comment.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the admissibility of the appeal and came to the conclusion that the appeal in public law matters is admissible, as there is basically a right to the grant of a settlement permit. The appellant was already a party to the cantonal proceedings and was particularly affected in his protected interests by the contested judgment.
The Federal Court applied the law of its own motion and examined the arguments raised. It found that the lower court had not examined the requirement of arbitrariness and had not dealt with the appellant's arguments in this regard. The lower court expressed itself in its judgment in a general manner on the criterion of arbitrariness, but only dealt with the question of what the difference is between a serious or repeated and a serious violation of public security and order.
The Federal Court came to the conclusion that the appellant had reduced his debt from a high of CHF 89,759.20 at the end of 2013 to CHF 80,305.10…