Belgian Lawmakers Consider Stricter Family Reunification Rules

The objective of this bill is to restrict certain "facilities" born from an adaptation of the law in 2014, report Sudpresse and Het Laatste Nieuws.

According to the explanations of the former Secretary of State for Asylum, in 2014, the 2011 law too literally transposed a European directive on the free movement and residence of European Union citizens and their family members in the territory of a Member State.

This law indeed tightened the rules on family reunification, imposing, among other things, that the person residing in Belgium (the host) have stable housing and income above 120% of the social integration income.

"Where there was a question of facilitating the stay of very specific groups of ’dependents’ [...] - I think, for example, of a person who is medically dependent on someone - these facilities have become an automatic right. This has allowed them to enter ’through the window’ when the door was closed!", observes Theo Francken.

As a result, "we see an ever-increasing group of people using these articles to obtain a right of residence with us": 803 people in 2015 (671 in Flanders and 132 in Wallonia) and 3,127 last year (2,309 in Flanders and 818 in Wallonia), says the N-VA elected official.

His wish, he will say, is that these authorizations be a kind of discretionary power of the authorities and that the controls be strengthened.

"An increase in applications does not necessarily mean abuse. Furthermore, we must differentiate between applications and acceptances," nuances the Federal Minister for Asylum and Migration, Maggie De Block (Open VLD).