Official Journal of the European Union

Series C

C/2024/1991

18.3.2024

(Case C-560/20, (1) Landeshauptmann von Wien (Family reunification with a minor refugee))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Area of freedom, security and justice - Immigration policy - Right to family reunification - Directive 2003/86/EC - Article 10(3)(a) - Family reunification of an unaccompanied minor refugee with his or her first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line - Article 2(f) - Concept of ‘unaccompanied minor’ - Minor sponsor at the time of submission of the application but who attained majority during the family reunification procedure - Relevant date for assessing minor status - Period for submitting an application for family reunification - Adult sister of the sponsor requiring the permanent assistance of her parents on account of a serious illness - Effectiveness of the right to family reunification of an unaccompanied minor refugee - Article 7(1) - Article 12(1), first and third subparagraphs - Possibility of making family reunification subject to additional conditions)

(C/2024/1991)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: CR, GF, TY

Defendant: Landeshauptmann von Wien

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 10(3)(a) of Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification must be interpreted as meaning that, in order to be able to base a right to family reunification on that provision and thereby benefit from the more favourable conditions laid down therein, that provision does not require the first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line of an unaccompanied minor refugee to submit the application for entry and residence for the purposes of family reunification with him or her within a given period, where that refugee is still a minor on the date on which that application is submitted and reaches majority during the family reunification procedure.

2.Article 10(3)(a) of Directive 2003/86 must be interpreted as requiring a residence permit to be granted to the adult sister of an unaccompanied minor refugee, who is a third-country national and who, on account of a serious illness, is totally and permanently dependent on the assistance of her parents, where a refusal to grant that residence permit would result in that refugee’s being deprived of his or her right to family reunification with his or her first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line, conferred by that provision.

3.Article 10(3)(a) of Directive 2003/86 must be interpreted as meaning that a Member State may not require that, in order to be able to benefit from the right to family reunification with his or her first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line under that provision, an unaccompanied minor refugee or his or her first-degree relatives in the direct ascending line meet the conditions laid down in Article 7(1) of that directive, irrespective of whether the application for family reunification has been submitted within the period laid down in the third subparagraph of Article 12(1) of the said directive.

(1) OJ C 72, 1.3.2021.

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1991/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)