European Union Court of Justice has ruled that a Turkish worker residing legally in Denmark must not be required to take a test showing a specific level of knowledge of Danish in order to be able to take his or her spouse to the country.
According to the Court of Justice, such legislation consists of an unlawful new restriction when it comes to family reunification, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Danish legislation which makes family reunification between a Turkish worker residing legally in Denmark and his or her spouse subject to the condition that that worker has successfully taken a test demonstrating a certain level of knowledge of Danish constitutes an unlawful ‘new restriction’,” the statement of the Court of Justice reads.
Making such a ruling, the Court of Justice said that this particular restriction is unjustifiable as the legislation of Denmark does not take into consideration the spouse’s ability to integrate or any other factor that demonstrates the effective integration of the worker who is concerned.
This specific ruling of the Court of Justice comes after a person who entered Denmark on August 14, 2015, and submitted a residence permit application with the intention of family reunification with her spouse – a Turkish national holding a permanent residence permit since September 1979 – was told that the worker must take a test demonstrating a certain level of knowledge of Danish.
In the application, it was stated that the Turkish national holding a permanent residence permit in Denmark had already completed a course in Danish which covered, among others, road works marking, engineering computation, understanding drawings, and work techniques.
In addition, it was stated that the Turkish national has had a work experience in Denmark for over 36 years, and it was also stated that his children, his brother and sisters, as well as his mother, lived in Denmark.
Nonetheless, despite the above-mentioned, on March 1, 2016, the Immigration Office of Denmark rejected the application of the Turkish national’s spouse. The application was rejected on the ground that the Turkish national had not displayed that he had met the conditions mentioned above.
“The Immigration Office added that that decision was not called into question by the standstill clauses, as interpreted by the Court of Justice in its case law,” the Court of Justice added.
Soon after the Immigration Office came out with such a decision, the spouse of the Turkish national filed an appeal regarding the rejection of her application to the High Court of Eastern Denmark, and the court required the Court of Justice if such a restriction is lawful.
Following such a request, the Court of Justice said that such legislation is justified in certain cases but not for this one. Moreover, the Court of Justice said that the Danish legislation at issue goes beyond what is required to attain the objective pursued.
Read More: EU Court Calls Unlawful Denmark’s Obligation for Turkish Citizen to Enter a Language Test
