Family reunification

Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to immigrate to that country as well.

Family reunification laws try to balance the right of a family to live together with the country's right to control immigration. However, how this balance looks like, e.g. which members of the family can be reunited, differs largely between countries.

A sub-case of family reunification is marriage migration, where one spouse immigrates to the country of the other spouse. Marriage migration can take place before marriage, in which case it falls under its own special category, or it can take place after marriage, in which case it falls under family reunification laws. Some countries allow family reunification for unmarried partners, provided they can prove an ongoing intimate relationship that also lastest longer than a certain period of time.

In recent years, there have been several cases of minors sent out on hazardous journeys in order to apply for political asylum status which, once granted, would enable the rest of the family to join them. However, in some countries only over 18 years old can apply for family reunification and it is only possible to be reunited with dependant children under 16 or partners, and not for parents or siblings.

Family reunification in Europe

A major part of immigrants to Europe do so through family reunification laws. Many countries in Europe have passed laws in recent years to limit people's ability to do so.

Family reunification in Canada

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and associated Regulations, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada aged at least 18 is allowed, subject to certain conditions, to sponsor specific members of their immediate family for permanent residence in Canada.

The eligible persons are the sponsor's spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner aged 16 and over, parents and grandparents, a dependent child of the sponsor, a child whom the sponsor intends to adopt, and orphaned brothers, sisters, nieces, or grandchildren under the age of 18 and who are not married or living in a common-law relationship. As an exception to the rules, if there are no eligible persons from the preceding list who may be sponsored and the sponsor has no relatives in Canada, the 'last-remaining family member' may be sponsored, but applications of this type are rare.

Family reunification in the United States

Family reunification in the United States is the most common legal basis for immigration to the United States, and it is governed by the terms of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.[7] Historically, the emphasis on family reunification in American immigration law began in that 1965 act by allotting 74% of all new immigrants allowed into the United States to family reunification visas. Those included, in descending preference, unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens (20%), spouses and unmarried children of permanent resident aliens (20%), married children of U.S. citizens (10%), and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens over age 21 (24%).[8]

Citizens and permanent residents of the United States may sponsor relatives for immigration to the United States in a variety of ways. Citizens of any age may sponsor their spouses and their children, but only citizens who have reached the age of 21 may sponsor siblings and parents. (The Supreme Court decision United States v. Windsor ruled in 2013 that same-sex spouses must be treated the same as opposite-sex spouses.) Permanent residents may only sponsor spouses and unmarried children. In all cases, the sponsor must demonstrate the capacity to support their relative financially at 125% of the poverty level, and provide proof of the relationship. Immediate relatives of United States citizens (spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21 years of age) are automatically eligible to immigrate upon approval of their application. All other people eligible to immigrate through a family member must wait for a place; a preference system governs the order at which these places become available. Citizens may only sponsor siblings, spouses, parents, and children. They cannot sponsor aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandparents, or grandchildren, though in some cases such relations may enjoy derivative status.[9]

Immigration of parents

Under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Under existing law, parents of United States citizens may be sponsored for immigration by their adult citizen children (those at least 21 years of age) under certain conditions.[9] The child must demonstrate the financial ability to provide for the parents.[10] In addition to this under current law and USCS policy individuals who entered illegally (EWI or Entry without Inspection) may not adjust in the country. However, leaving the United States triggers a ban on entering the U.S. If the parent was present in the U.S. for only between 180–364 days, the parent will receive a three-year ban. However, as is more common if the parent was present for 365 days or more, the parent will receive a ten-year ban on entering the United States. Unless the parent is willing to live out the ban outside the country, the parent may not regularize their status through the child. Parents who enter legally will not have to leave the U.S. to adjust their status unless they entered on K visas or entered on J visas and did not obtain a waiver for the foreign-stay period.

Having U.S.-citizen minor children has been mischaracterized as being beneficial in deportation proceedings: such benefits do not exist except in the very rare case of extreme and profound hardship on the child. The number of such hardship waivers is capped at 5000 per year.[11] Federal appellate courts have upheld the refusal by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to stay the deportation of illegal immigrants merely on the grounds that they have U.S.-citizen, minor children.[12]

There are some 3.1 million United-States-citizen children with at least one illegal immigrant parent as of 2005. At least 13,000 American children had one or both parents deported in the years 2005-2007.[13][14]

See also

References

  1. "The Danish spouse's attachment to Denmark". newtodenmark.dk. Danish Immigration Service. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  2. "Change in the attachment requirement in family reunification cases". newtodenmark.dk. Danish Immigration Service. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  3. België vindt Nederlands vreemdelingenbeleid te streng ; Bonjour, Saskia; de Hart, Betty (2013). "A proper wife, a proper marriage. Constructions of us and them in Dutch family migration policy". European Journal of Women's Studies.
  4. Block & Bonjour 2013 'Fortress Europe or Europe of Rights. The Europeanisation of Family migration policies in France, Germany and the Netherlands' in European Journal of Migration and Law
  5. Travis, Alan (22 February 2017). "Supreme court backs minimum income rule for non-European spouses". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  6. The impact on children of the Family Migration Rules (PDF) (Report). Children's Commissioner for England. August 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  7. Immigration and Nationality Act, as retrieved from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
  8. Tichenor, Daniel J. (2002). Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 216.
  9. 1 2 "Immigration through a Family Member". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Archived from the original on 16 July 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  10. Bring my parents to live in the US
  11. Stock, Margaret; Eastman, John (2 May 2006). "Five Questions on Immigration Reform". Federalist Society. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  12. Lee, Margaret Mikyung (12 May 2006). U.S. Citizenship of Persons Born in the United States to Alien Parents (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service Report for Congress. pp. 10, 17. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
  13. Preston, Julia (17 November 2007). "Immigration Quandary: A Mother Torn From Her Baby". New York Times. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  14. Passel, Jeffrey (7 March 2006). "The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the US" (PDF). Pew Hispanic Center. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
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