Germany: Request submitted to CJEU to clarify question on protection of refugee family with different nationalities

The Federal Administrative Court recently referred a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the compatibility of German asylum law with Union law regarding protection of refugee families with different nationalities.

The case concerns an unmarried couple. The father is a Syrian national with recognised refugee status and the mother is a Tunisian national with ‘tolerated’ status. The children are Tunisian nationals. An application for family refugee protection derived from the father’s protection status was rejected on the grounds that a parent’s protection status cannot be extended to a child with different citizenship.

The Federal Administrative Court decided to refer this matter to the CJEU to determine whether German law, namely section 26 Asylum Act is compatible with Articles 3 and 23(2) Directive 2011/95.

Thank you to Holger Hoffmann, ELENA coordinator for Germany, for informing the EWLU team about this judgment and for assisting us with writing this summary. Based on an unofficial translation by the EWLU.

This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the ELENA Weekly Legal Update. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is pusexblished but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE.