A minor refugee has the right to family reunification with his parents without conditions of resources, European justice ruled on Tuesday January 30, in the case of a Syrian in Austria setting a precedent.
Family reunification had been refused to this young man by the authorities, on the grounds that he had become an adult at the time of the decision, but above all because he did not meet the financial conditions necessary to take care of this family.
However, in a binding judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recalled having already ruled in 2018 that an unaccompanied minor who becomes an adult during the asylum procedure retains his right to life. family, in accordance with a 2003 directive.
“This right cannot depend on the greater or lesser speed with which the request is processed
,” the CJEU said in a press release.
On Tuesday, she added that this right
“cannot be subject to the condition that the refugee or his parents have sufficiently large accommodation, health insurance and the necessary resources”
.
“Indeed, it is practically impossible for an unaccompanied minor refugee and extremely difficult for his parents to meet such conditions
,” she ruled.
Exceptional cases
Furthermore, she considered that the host country must also open up to the refugee's siblings in exceptional cases, such as that of disability, whatever the cost of medical care for the community.
Indeed, this Syrian's adult sister being paralyzed, she is entirely dependent on her parents and cannot stay alone in Syria.
“If she was not admitted at the same time as them, the refugee would, de facto, be deprived of his right to family reunification given that it is impossible for his parents to join their son alone
,” ruled the CJEU .
She had been questioned by the Vienna administrative court, where the parents and sister had challenged the refusal of the Austrian authorities.
This decision
“binds other national courts which would be seized of a similar problem”
, she wrote.