Issuance of family reunification visas: the judge bucks French government


family reunificationSeized by several associations about the Issuance of family reunification visas: the judge bucks the French government by suspending the interruption decided by the Government.

The summary judge of the Council of State suspended the Government’s decision to interrupt, because of the covid-19 epidemic, the issuance of family reunification visas to spouses and children of non-foreigners. Europeans residing in France. The judge considers that this decision disproportionately infringes the right to normal family life and the best interests of the child.

As part of the fight against covid-19, the Prime Minister decided, as of March 18, 2020, to limit the movement on the national territory of people coming from abroad. If, since that date, spouses and children of French or European citizens can still enter France to join them, family members of nationals of other nationalities residing in France can no longer do so, with rare exceptions.

Referred to by several associations representing foreigners and by individual applicants, the summary-suspension judge of the Council of State suspends the decision to no longer issue family reunification visas for these people and to impose the obtaining of a permit. -pass.

Limited impact on the spread of the virus

On the one hand, the summary judge notes that the number of people benefiting from family reunification is normally equivalent to 60 people per day. The administration does not provide any evidence showing that such a flow could contribute significantly to an increased risk of the spread of covid-19, while the recently reinforced screening and isolation measures to cope with the appearance of new variants, can be applied to interested parties as well as to people already benefiting from an exemption allowing them to enter the territory.

A disproportionate interference with the right to normal family life and the best interests of the child

On the other hand, the judge noted that the contested measure seriously undermined the right to normal family life of all those concerned and the best interests of the children in question, which has continued continuously for more than ten months. . However, the people in question are often forced, as it stands, to seize the summary judge of the administrative court of Nantes to obtain the regularization of their situation. Thus, and even though Union law does not prevent the Prime Minister from temporarily restricting, in the face of a pandemic situation, through regulatory measures justified by health considerations, entry into national territory, the contested decision is not proportionate because it does not provide for exemptions for beneficiaries of family reunification.

For these reasons, the summary judge of the Conseil d’État deduced that there is serious doubt as to the legality of the measure in question, which justifies it is being suspended.

Read the summary decision

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