The European Court of Justice had decided that non EU nationals are entitled to social security in the EU country they are working in. It had been specifically stated that "a single work permit entitled non EU nationals to equal treatment and therefore national law could not exclude them from social security benefits."
The facts of the case had as follows:
- Mrs. Kerly Del Rosario Martinez Silva, a national of a non-EU country, lived in Italy with her three minor children. She held a single work permit valid for longer than six months. In 2014 she applied to the National Social Security Institution, Italy for a benefit provided for by Italian law for households with at least three minor children and with income below a certain limit.
- The claim of Mrs. Kerly was refused on the grounds that, in the case of nationals of non-EU countries, Italian law does not allow that benefit to be granted to holders of a single work permit, but only to political refugees, persons with subsidiary protection status, and holders of a long-term residence permit. Therefore such conditions were not satisfied by Mrs. Kerly.
- Nonetheless the European Court of Justice had decided that "Italy is not allowed to ban migrants with work permits from claiming benefits."
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