France Resumes Family Reunification Visas After Legal Challenges

In the matter of family reunification, French consulates have ceased issuing visas since last March, even if the files are each time processed by the prefectures. If, after the first deconfinement, in May, the French government resumed the issuance of visas to French spouses and students, nothing has been said about the candidates for family reunification, reports Le Monde. According to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, the blockage is effective since the candidates for family reunification are not "part of the priority audiences". And when will the resumption be? "It will depend on the health situation," he replied.

But, in the meantime, hundreds of families have obtained authorization for family reunification, but are still separated, for lack of a visa for the spouse residing abroad. This is the case, for example, of Kahina, an Algerian woman who gave birth to her daughter at the Cochin hospital in Paris, deprived of the assistance of her husband blocked in Algeria.

Overwhelmed, the people concerned condemn the "double standard" and are accompanied by associations of elected officials, including the deputy Hubert Julien-Laferrière, who also sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, without response, and who denounces "a breach of equality". Furthermore, families have taken legal action and obtained satisfaction. Thus, "even before the hearings were held, the Minister of the Interior asked the consulates concerned to process the visa applications," the French newspaper reported. A situation that the government could have avoided, laments Me Odin.