Non-EU citizens may have residency rights in the EU if their children are EU citizens, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The case arose after a woman from Venezuela, who had a child with a Dutch citizen from whom she has since legally separated, was denied social welfare and child benefits by Dutch authorities because she had no right to residence. But the ECJ's ruling says that EU law does not allow a member state to block the legal rights of a family member of an EU citizen.