CJEU - C-558/14 / Judgment

Khachab v Subdelegación del Gobierno en Álava
Policy area
Asylum and migration
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Court (Fourth Chamber)
Type
Decision
Decision date
21/04/2016
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2016:285
  • CJEU - C-558/14 / Judgment

    Key facts of the case:

    Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 2003/86/EC — Article 7(1)(c) — Family reunification — Requirements for the exercise of the right to family reunification — Stable and regular resources which are sufficient — National legislation permitting a prospective assessment of the likelihood that the sponsor will retain his resources — Compatibility

    Results (sanctions) and key consequences of the case:

    ...the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:

    Article 7(1)(c) of Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification must be interpreted as allowing the competent authorities of a Member State to refuse an application for family reunification on the basis of a prospective assessment of the likelihood of the sponsor retaining, or failing to retain, the necessary stable and regular resources which are sufficient to maintain himself and the members of his family, without recourse to the social assistance system of that Member State, in the year following the date of submission of that application, that assessment being based on the pattern of the sponsor’s income in the six months preceding that date.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter
    1. In addition, the Court has held that Article 7(1)(c) of Directive 2003/86 cannot be applied in such a manner that its application would disregard the fundamental rights set out in, inter alia, Article 7 of the Charter (see judgment in O and Others, C‑356/11 and C‑357/11, EU:C:2012:776, paragraph 77).
    2. Although Article 7 of the Charter cannot be interpreted as depriving the Member States of the margin of appreciation available to them when examining applications for family reunification, the provisions of Directive 2003/86 must nonetheless, in the course of such an examination, be interpreted and applied in the light of — inter alia — Article 7 of the Charter, as is moreover apparent from recital 2 in the preamble to that directive, which requires the Member States to examine applications for reunification with a view to promoting family life (see, to that effect, judgment in O and Others, C‑356/11 and C‑357/11, EU:C:2012:776, paragraphs 79 and 80).