Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2015:852
Date: 2015-12-23
Language of the case: Spanish
Subject matter: Immigration and asylum policy;Area of freedom, security and justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Spain

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 21 April 2016 Border controls, asylum and immigration — Immigration policy — Right to family reunification — Directive 2003/86 — Requirements for the exercise of the right to family reunification — Stable and regular resources which are sufficient — National legislation permitting a prospective assessment of the likelihood that the sponsor will retain his resources — Lawfulness (Council Directive 2003/86, Art. 3(1), 7(1)(c) and 16(1)(a)) Article 7(1)(c) of Directive 2003/86 on the right to family reunification must be interpreted as allowing the competent authorities of a Member State to refuse an application for family reunification on the basis of a prospective assessment of the likelihood of the sponsor retaining, or failing to retain, the necessary stable and regular resources which are sufficient to maintain himself and the members of his family, without recourse to the social assistance system of that Member State, in the year following the date of submission of that application, that assessment being based on the pattern of the sponsor’s income in the six months preceding that date. The assessment of whether reasonable prospects of obtaining the right of permanent residence exist for the purposes of Article 3(1) of that directive necessarily requires the competent authority of the Member State concerned to carry out an examination of future developments in the sponsor’s situation in relation to the obtaining of that right of residence. In addition, according to Article 16(1)(a) of that directive, the competent authority of the Member State concerned may, inter alia, withdraw an authorisation of family reunification where the sponsor no longer has stable and regular resources which are sufficient, as referred to in Article 7(1)(c). The fact that it is possible to withdraw that authorisation means that that authority may require the sponsor to have such resources beyond the date of submission of his application. Regarding the setting of the length of the period prior to the submission of the application on which the prospective assessment of the sponsor’s resources may be based at six months, it should be noted that Directive 2003/86 is silent on that point. In any event, such a period is not capable of undermining the objective of that directive. (see paras 35, 38, 47, 48, operative part)