Official Journal of the European Union

C 294/8

(Case C-153/14)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 2003/86/EC - Article 7(2) - Family reunification - Integration measures - National legislation requiring the family members of a third country national residing lawfully in that Member State to pass a civic integration exam in order to enter the territory of that Member State - Costs of such an exam - Compatibility))

(2015/C 294/10)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken

Defendant: K, A

Operative part of the judgment

The first subparagraph of Article 7(2) of Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification must be interpreted as meaning that Member States may require third country nationals to pass a civic integration examination, such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, which consists in an assessment of basic knowledge both of the language of the Member State concerned and of its society and which entails the payment of various costs, before authorising that national’s entry into and residence in the territory of the Member State for the purposes of family reunification, provided that the conditions of application of such a requirement do not make it impossible or excessively difficult to exercise the right to family reunification. In circumstances such as those of the cases in the main proceedings, in so far as they do not allow regard to be had to special circumstances objectively forming an obstacle to the applicants passing the examination and in so far as they set the fees relating to such an examination at too high a level, those conditions make the exercise of the right to family reunification impossible or excessively difficult.

(1) OJ C 194, 24.6.2014.