A Stratified Right to Family Life? Patterns and Rationales behind Differential Access to Family Reunification for Third-Country Nationals Living within the EU

Seven European countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands,  Portugal and Spain) are included in the analysis. They were selected to reflect – as far as possible  given limitations of time and space – not only the great geographical and economic diversity among  EU Member States, but also their very diverse immigration histories, overall policy frameworks and  perceptions of current immigration from third countries. Although family reunification accounts for  significant shares of overall immigration to all these countries, only in some of them (especially  Germany and the Netherlands) has it been analysed extensively, while others have received much  less attention due to their small size (Austria) or comparatively low levels of politicisation of family  migration (Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic). While policy frameworks progressively implemented  in the Netherlands, Austria, and especially Denmark are among the most restrictive within Europe, the conditions for reunification have remained comparatively favourable in Spain and Portugal,  which is clearly reflected in the Migrant Integration Policy Index – MIPEX (Huddleston et al.  2011).The general decrease in overall numbers of admitted family migrants over the last years  can in some cases be related to specific restrictions (as in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands), in  others to economic downturn (as in Portugal and Spain), as pointed out by Strik et al. (2013). From  the migrants' perspective, the latter points towards a decline of demand for family reunification, the  former signifies a curtailment of supply, often involving a curtailment of rights for certain groups of  people. In the face of these significant differences, however, the task is to highlight some of the  similarities these countries share in selectively granting access to family reunification for TCNs,  which in turn allows us to uncover the rather consistent logic underlying different national systems  of stratified rights and obligations.
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