On September 10, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) ruled in Ben Alaya v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland [3] that a Member State must admit a third-country national who wishes to stay in the country more than three months for study purposes if that national meets the general and specific conditions listed in an EU Directive [4] dealing with the conditions for such admissions.  According to the press release [5], the Court noted “that the directive is intended to promote the mobility of students from third countries to the EU in order to promote Europe as a world centre of excellence for studies and vocational training. To allow a Member State to introduce additional conditions for admission would be contrary to that objective.”  The Court also stated that States are granted a measure of discretion in considering applicants for admission, but that this “relates only to the conditions laid down by the directive and, within that context, to the assessment of the relevant facts.”