A young man from Moldova named Gheorghe (name changed) came to our law firm.
In 2009, following amendments to certain Romanian legislative acts, around 30% of Moldovans gained preferential rights to the issuance and registration of Romanian citizenship. Under the amended Romanian law, citizenship could be obtained by anyone who had resided in Moldova up until 1940, since until that time the territory had been part of the Romanian state. The main prerequisite for obtaining citizenship is proof of Romanian origin. As a result, many Moldovans gained the opportunity to emigrate to Romania or to any other country in the European Union, since Romania has been an EU member state since January 2007.
Conditions for Family Reunification
For family reunification in Germany, applicants generally need to prove sufficient income, adequate housing and, for spouses, a basic A1-level language certificate (§ 30 AufenthG).
It is not surprising that our client also decided to take advantage of this opportunity, especially since he met all the necessary prerequisites, and he obtained Romanian citizenship without difficulty, thereby automatically becoming an EU citizen as well.
This opened up a wealth of opportunities for him, and he decided to try his luck in Germany, especially since he had heard more than once about the carefree life and well-paid jobs available in that country. So Gheorghe set off. He found a job right upon arrival, and life kicked into high gear. Now he had just one goal left — to bring his entire family (his wife and two small children), who had stayed behind in Moldova, to join him in Germany.
The principal legislative acts governing the public-law relations concerning the exercise of freedom of movement and residence by all Union citizens, regardless of their social status or purpose of travel, and the rights of their family members (including those who are nationals of "third countries," i.e. countries outside the European Union), are Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of Union citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, and the Act on the General Freedom of Movement of Union Citizens (Gesetz über die allgemeine Freizügigkeit von Unionsbürgern, or Freizügigkeitsgesetz/EU — FreizügG/EU, for short). Since these instruments are designed to reduce to an absolute minimum the formalities that Union citizens and their families must complete in order to exercise their right of movement and residence, EU citizens benefit from a simplified procedure for exercising family reunification rights. Family members of EU citizens who are themselves nationals of "third countries" are entitled to apply for permission to reunite with the EU citizen and to obtain a residence permit in the EU member state.
And since Gheorghe had recently become a fully-fledged EU citizen, there was certainly reason to be pleased — he could arrange, through a simplified procedure, for his family members to move to and live together with him in Germany.
The only problem was that the young man's salary was low, which significantly complicated the situation. For family reunification, an EU citizen must meet the conditions set out under national law: this group of people must be financially independent, have sufficient means of subsistence, and hold health insurance for themselves and their family members. They must provide documentary proof of the ability to support their family to the immigration authority. For this reason, our firm's lawyer suggested that he find a better-paying job. Taking the lawyer's advice, Gheorghe did exactly that. In addition, to improve the chances of a favorable decision in the case, we also found an employer for the client's wife and arranged for her to sign an employment contract with a company. The contract stated that, once she obtained her residence permit, she could start working at the company immediately.
We then filed an application for a residence permit, the so-called residence card (Aufenthaltskarte), in Germany with the state Office for Citizenship, Immigration, Registration and Legalization Matters — the immigration authority (Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten, Ausländerbehörde).
This might seem straightforward, but that is only true at first glance. The main difficulty lay in the fact that family reunification normally requires filing an application at the German embassy in the applicant's country of residence and obtaining a national visa through the general procedure for entering Germany. However, thanks to new EU laws, in certain situations a visa or other necessary documents can be obtained after arrival in Germany. That is exactly what we took advantage of. Thanks to our application, in which we set out the full justification in detail, and to submitting all documents in accordance with German law, the family did not have to leave Germany to file the reunification application from Moldova and wait for it to be processed. As a result, from the moment we filed the application and throughout the entire process, they remained in the country legally.
As a result, our client's wife and young children, as family members of an EU citizen, were issued a residence permit valid for 5 years, with the right, after five years of lawful continuous residence, to apply for a permanent residence permit — valid indefinitely and subject to automatic renewal every ten years — which grants nationals of "third countries" even broader opportunities to work and live in the country.
Of course, our client could eventually have resolved the problem on his own. But there is no telling how long that process would have dragged on, since sorting through all the legal nuances by oneself is very difficult. On top of that, he would have had to endure the separation from his family the entire time, until all the paperwork was sorted out and his family could join him in Germany.
Thus, with the support of our law firm's lawyers, Gheorghe was able to resolve his problem without unnecessary difficulties, separation from his family, or wasted time. This example clearly shows just how important it is to seek legal help from specialists.
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