Title: The unlawfulness of existing pre-departure integration conditions applied in family reunification scenarios - urgent need to change national laws in the European Union

Authors: Moritz Jesse

Addresses: EU Law, Leiden Law School, University of Leiden, Netherlands

Abstract: This article has two objectives. It will give insights into the current discussion circling around the lawfulness of pre-departure integration conditions for family migrants up until the recent case C-153/14 of the Court of Justice of the EU. It will then provide two additional fundamental arguments as to why pre-departure integration conditions for family migrants cannot be legal. It will be argued that such conditions cannot be integration conditions at all. Instead, they are selection criteria installed to bring down the numbers of family migrants. These conditions are not allowed under EU law and therefore illegal. In the alternative, integration conditions have to facilitate integration and have to be proportionate to this objective. Pre-departure integration conditions for family migrants cannot be proportionate because their suitability has never been proven, and, in any case, less infringing means, such as integration measures that apply after arrival, are available.

Keywords: immigration; family migration; law; EU directives; Directive 2003/86/EC; Court of Justice of the Europen Union; European Court of Justice; CJEU; unlawfulness; pre-departure integration conditions; family reunification; national laws.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2016.077642

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2016 Vol.2 No.3, pp.274 - 288

Received: 23 Apr 2015
Accepted: 05 Oct 2015
Published online: 11 Jul 2016 *

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