Family reunion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The family reunification or family reunification is an influx of family members to a person residing already in the destination country or wants to pull together with the family members, for the purpose of establishing or maintaining the family unit. Family reunification is usually possible at the same time or subsequently, even after the birth of a foreign child in Germany. As a rule, a distinction is made between spouse reunification , children reunification, parents reunification and the reunification of other family members.

Family reunification is granted differently in the individual countries and the legal provisions differ considerably.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 10, paragraph 1 on family reunification in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of November 20, 1989 reads:

In accordance with the obligation of the contracting states under Article 9 paragraph 1, applications made by a child or his or her parents for the purpose of family reunification to enter a contracting state or to leave a contracting state are processed benevolently, humane and expeditiously by the contracting states. The States parties shall also ensure that the filing of such an application does not have any adverse consequences for the applicant or their family members.

This regulation is intended on the one hand to serve the best interests of the child in that applications are to be processed "openly, humane and expeditiously", and on the other hand to give the contracting states the freedom to regulate the immigration of foreigners themselves.

European Convention on Human Rights

Article 8 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of November 1950 protects family life and must be taken into account when families are reunited:

Everyone has the right to respect for their private and family life, their home and their correspondence.

The Austrian Constitutional Court ruled in 2003 that the unconditional application of the quota obligation was incompatible with Article 8 of the ECHR. The European Court of Human Rights found on November 8, 2016 that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had not sufficiently considered Article 8 of the ECHR and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child due to insufficient weighting of the individual child's well-being.

European Union

Family reunification by third-country nationals legally residing in the territory of the Member States is regulated by Directive 2003/86 / EC (Family Reunification Directive) of September 22, 2003.

Unaccompanied minors can, under certain conditions, be reunited with their family members in Europe. The Dublin procedure enables another EU country to take over your asylum procedure if the family is there (Art. 8 Dublin III Regulation). Under certain circumstances, parents and siblings can also travel to a minor (Art. 9, Art. 7 Para. 3 Dublin III Regulation and recitals 13 to 18 of the Regulation). Family reunification is excluded if it does not serve the best interests of the child. Therefore, the responsible youth protection authority must be involved in each individual case and a child welfare assessment must be carried out.

The Directive 2011/95 / EU (the Qualification Directive) provides refugees and subsidiary protection status equal rights in the family reunification.

The consent to family reunification of third-country nationals continues to be given under national law, so that the situation of domestic discrimination has arisen in some EU states because the requirements for reuniting with one's own nationals have not yet been adapted to the more favorable conditions for EU citizens. In Germany, for example, a spouse's reunification with a German requires, among other things, language skills that are not required by the spouse of an EU citizen.

In Germany, family reunification with non-German Union citizens is based on Section 5 (2) of the Freedom of Movement Act / EU .

Germany

Regulations

The starting point for the reunification of spouses or other family members is the protection of marriage and family anchored in Article 6 of the Basic Law .

The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) ruled in 1987 on family reunification in terms of Art. 6 para. 1 and para. 2 sentence 1 of the Basic Law enshrined fundamental right to protection of marriage and family that this fundamental provision does not constitute a fundamental right of spouses to Germany. The legislature must take them into account in accordance with the principle of proportionality , but in principle it has a wide range of design options when exercising its protective and promotional obligations.

In the Federal Republic of Germany , family reunification is regulated by the Residence Act (AufenthG) in Section 6 Residence for family reasons ( Sections 27 to 36 ). Approval for family reunification is given by the immigration authorities in coordination with the German diplomatic missions abroad . In August 2007 the amendment to the law came into force. Approval takes place in a visa procedure and has been linked to nationality , language skills, livelihood security and in some cases the size of the apartment since 2007 . Since 2007, family reunification with a German citizen has also been linked to income under certain circumstances. The explanatory memorandum for the law states that this is the case if family reunification abroad is reasonable, which is more likely to be the case for naturalized people or dual national citizens than for Germans without a different cultural background.

There is no entitlement to sibling reunification under German asylum and residence law. They do not belong to the so-called "nuclear family", but are subsumed under the group "other family members".

In 2007 a spouse reunification age of 18 years was decided. It was also decided that a basic knowledge of German according to level A1 of the European language certificate must be proven. This language test should facilitate integration and prevent forced marriage . The subsequent spouses of holders of the Blue Card and of highly qualified persons in accordance with Section 19 of the Residence Act, as well as recognized university graduates, are exempt from proof of German language skills.

On July 10, 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that the regulation violated the standstill clause of the Association Agreement between the EEC and Turkey (Article 41, Paragraph 1 of the Additional Protocol) and was incompatible with the Directive on family reunification (Directive 2003/86 / EC). After this judgment, the Federal Ministry of the Interior considered expanding the regulation in favor of narrowly defined hardship cases.

Since September 6, 2013, every holder of a residence permit granted as part of family reunification has been entitled to pursue gainful employment in accordance with Section 27 (5) of the Residence Act.

Persons with a refugee status (§ 3 AsylG or § 16a GG) can bring their family members to Germany from their country of origin or a transit country in which the family is legally resident. This type of family reunification is limited to the so-called core family and includes first-degree relatives (parents and children) and spouses. In the case of unaccompanied minor refugees, there is a right to the reunification of both parents until they reach the age of 18. This entitlement exists without proof of security of living space and livelihood.

On August 1, 2015, an amendment to the Residence Act came into force that made it easier for family members to reunite with subsidiary protection . According to a decision by the leaders of the governing parties in January 2016, however, family reunification was suspended for two years in the case of persons entitled to subsidiary protection, with certain exceptions for refugee members in refugee camps (see: Asylum Package II ).

On March 8, 2018, the law to extend the suspension of family reunification to beneficiaries of subsidiary protection was passed. It updates Section 104 (13) of the Residence Act.

Thereafter, the two-year suspension of family reunification for those with subsidiary protection, which expired on March 16, 2018, was extended to July 31, 2018. Since August 1, 2018, a total of 1,000 spouses and minor children of subsidiary protected minors or parents of subsidiary protected minors can be granted a residence permit for humanitarian reasons, whereby hardship cases (according to Section 22 of the Residence Act) should not be counted towards this quota.

Since September 14, 2013, spouses and descendants of ethnic repatriates can be included in their notices of admission.

numbers

An important basis for recording spouse and family reunification is the visa statistics of the Federal Foreign Office , in which, however, visa-free reunification from countries such as the USA , Canada , Israel , Australia , Switzerland and EU countries is not recorded. The Central Register of Foreigners (AZR), which provides a more comprehensive picture, has also been used as a data source since 2005 . Due to the different database, the figures are only comparable to a limited extent. Since July 2016, the residence title of the person residing in Germany to whom the family reunification takes place has been systematically stored in the AZR.

The German authorities issued the following number of visas for family reunification:

From 1998 to 2012 inclusive, more than 75% of the immigrants were spouses. Every year there were more women than men who followed suit; this applied both to immigration to foreigners and to immigration to Germans. Up to and including 2012, the number of adults who entered the country because of a family reunification that was not a spouse reunification was always below 1%. In 2013 and 2014 it had risen to just over 5%. The extent of family reunification for unaccompanied minor refugees according to Section 36 (1) of the Residence Act was assessed as low in June 2015. According to the Federal Association of Unaccompanied Minor Refugees , only 504 people in Germany had received a residence permit due to such family reunification at the time. By November 30, 2015, the number had risen to 716 people. In 2015, a total of 442 parents moved to live with their underage children. In 2016 there were around 65,000 unaccompanied minors living in Germany, and 3,200 visas were issued for their parents to join them.

Austria

Family reunification is regulated in the Settlement and Residence Act (NAG) of 2005 and in the Asylum Act 2005 . The political distinction between “desirable migration” and “undesirable migration” became more and more important, with family migration being associated with the (undesirable) immigration of low-skilled people and therefore classified as problematic with regard to integration. The NAG regulates the entry and residence of family members of third-country nationals, EU nationals and Austrian nationals. The Asylum Act applies to refugees and persons who enjoy subsidiary protection. The Austrian family migration policy shows both liberalizing (earlier starting of work, reduction of dependency on the sponsor) and restrictive (increasing the minimum age for marriages, proof of language skills) tendencies. Despite explicit criticism from the European Commission, Austria insists on maintaining a quota for relatives of asylum seekers and third-country nationals who are not highly qualified key workers. According to the MIPEX report from 2015, the requirements for family reunification and naturalization that apply in Austria are among the most restrictive in Europe.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, family reunification has been granted since January 1, 2008 by the Swiss Aliens Act.

EU / EFTA nationals who have acquired a right of residence in Switzerland can have their family members join them on the basis of the 1999 agreement on freedom of movement between Switzerland and the EU. This also applies to Swiss citizens whose family members have a permanent EU / EFTA right of residence. Nationals from a third country outside the EU / EFTA can only join them under certain restrictive conditions. In 2010, the Swiss Parliament rejected an amendment to the Aliens Act, so that Swiss citizens are still worse off than EU citizens in Switzerland when it comes to family reunification.

Denmark

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Convention on the Rights of the Child , UNICEF, accessed October 29, 2017
  2. ↑ Family reunification . UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, accessed October 29, 2017
  3. ↑ Right to Respect for Private and Family Life, dejure.org, accessed October 29, 2017
  4. ↑ The unconditional validity of the quota obligation for family reunification violates Art. 8 ECHR . VfGH G 119, 120 / 03-13
  5. ↑ ECHR judgment: Switzerland has insufficiently clarified the best interests of the child ( memento of October 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Protection factor M, accessed October 29, 2017
  6. ↑ a b c d e family reunification. Federal Association of Unaccompanied Minor Refugees, accessed on November 26, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Art. 20, Paragraph 2: “Unless otherwise specified, this chapter applies to both refugees and persons entitled to subsidiary protection” i. V. m. Art. 23 Paragraph 1: “The member states ensure that the family association can be maintained”, Directive 2011/95 / EU (PDF) .
  8. ↑ Abdul-Karim Alakus: Migazin, Inländerdiskriminierung Proof of language proficiency in the case of spouse reunification from abroad , April 8, 2011
  9. ↑ a b c Migration report 2015 of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees , p. 107 ff.
  10. ↑ BVerfG, decision of May 12, 1987, Az. 2 BvR 1226/83, 101, 313/84, BVerfGE 76, 1 - Family reunification
  11. ↑ German Bundestag, family reunification for refugees and international subsidiary protection legal bases and design options of the legislature from a national perspective , elaboration WD 3 - 3000 - 239/16, Scientific Services, German Bundestag, 2016. Section 3.2.1. Constitutional requirements from Article 6 Paragraph 1, 2 Sentence 1 of the Basic Law . P. 5.
  12. ↑ Statement on tightening spousal reunification (PDF; 1.5 MB) Verband Binationaler
  13. ↑ Assurance of subsistence ( memento from April 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) info4alien.de
  14. ↑ In the discussion: Restrictions on family reunification in Europe. In: www.migration-info.de. October 17, 2012, archived from the original on March 19, 2017 ; accessed on March 17, 2017 .
  15. ^ Cautious welcome , Deutschlandradio on April 24, 2007
  16. ↑ Blog post on the minimum age
  17. ↑ Leaflet on the proof of basic knowledge of German when joining the spouse , diplomatic mission in Ankara
  18. ↑ Goethe-Institut : Information on proof of basic knowledge of German when joining a spouse
  19. ^ German test for immigrants at TELC
  20. ↑ a b Spouse reunification: Ministry sticks to language tests for Turks. Zeit online, July 13, 2014, accessed July 14, 2014 .
  21. ↑ Proof of basic knowledge of German when spouses are reuniting from abroad , BAMF brochure, PDF, approx. 176 kB
  22. ↑ ECJ, judgment of July 10, 2014, full text
  23. ↑ NEW: Easier family reunification for those entitled to subsidiary protection. Refugee Council Bavaria, accessed on May 2, 2016 .
  24. ↑ BGBl. 2018 I p. 342
  25. ↑ BT-Drs. 19/439 , draft law of the parliamentary group of the CDU / CSU: Draft law to extend the suspension of family reunification to beneficiaries of subsidiary protection
  26. ↑ Draft of a law on the new regulation of family reunification to beneficiaries of subsidiary protection ( BT-Drs. 19/2438 )
  27. ↑ Family reunification of ethnic repatriates facilitated by law. Federation of Displaced Persons, September 17, 2013, accessed on January 9, 2018 .
  28. ^ Janne Grote: Family reunification of third-country nationals to Germany . Focus study EMN 2017, p. 18
  29. ↑ 2016 and 2017: Around 322,000 visas issued since 2015 . FAZ, July 9, 2018, accessed July 11, 2018
  30. ↑ Migration Report 2015 of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees , p. 109, Figures 3-15 and 3-16.
  31. ↑ BumF: Facts on parental reunification at umF. Federal Association of Unaccompanied Minors, November 24, 2015, accessed on March 12, 2017 .
  32. ↑ a b BT-Drs. 18/7200
  33. ↑ Family reunification has increased sharply. In: tagesschau.de. ARD, January 19, 2017, accessed on March 12, 2017 .
  34. ↑ Alexandra König and Albert Kraler: Family Family reunification: an obstacle or promotion of integration? . Summary of the ICMPD report for Austria, 2013
  35. ^ S. Strasser and J. Tosic: Equality, Autonomy and Integration: Post-Multiculturalism in Austria . In: Culture, Society, Migration .: The reflexive turn in migration research , Ed .: Nieswand and Drotbohm, Springer VS 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-03625-6 , p. 145
  36. ↑ MIPEX: Reforms in naturalization and participation necessary . Media Service Point New Austrians, accessed October 30, 2017
  37. ↑ Family reunification . Federal Department of Justice and Police, August 2017
  38. ^ Criticism of the restrictive approach to family reunification , in: humanrights.ch May 17, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017

Web links

Wiktionary: Family reunification  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Germany
Austria
Switzerland