{"id":47377,"date":"2026-04-01T09:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/?p=47377"},"modified":"2026-04-01T09:50:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:50:39","slug":"47377","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Reunification of third-country nationals: State of play of law and practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Family reunification has long been one of the main channels of legal migration to the EU, accounting for 26% of all first residence permits issued in 2023. It plays a crucial role in upholding the right to family life under international and EU law and supporting the integration of third-country nationals.<\/p>\n<p>The EU\u2019s framework for family reunification of third-country nationals is set out in Council Directive 2003\/86\/EC. Since its adoption, its implementation has been shaped by national legislative changes, key rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and the digitalisation of migration procedures in EU Member States.<\/p>\n<p>The study provides key information on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Requirements and conditions<\/li>\n<li>Application processes and challenges<\/li>\n<li>Access to rights after arrival<\/li>\n<li>Trends and outlooks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link-to-pdf\" title=\"2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice (1)\" href=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-47378\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumb-of-pdf alignnone wp-image-47380 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"thumbnail of 2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice (1)\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-17x24.jpg 17w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-25x36.jpg 25w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-34x48.jpg 34w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf-768x1087.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf.jpg 1058w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Family reunification has long been one of the main channels of legal migration to the EU, accounting for 26% of all first residence permits issued in 2023. It plays a crucial role in upholding the right to family life under international and EU law and supporting the integration of third-country nationals. The EU\u2019s framework for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":47380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[413],"class_list":["post-47377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive-publications","tag-legal-migration","publication-type-national-studies","category-7","description-off"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Family Reunification of third-country nationals: State of play of law and practice - EMN European Migration Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family Reunification of third-country nationals: State of play of law and practice - EMN European Migration Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Family reunification has long been one of the main channels of legal migration to the EU, accounting for 26% of all first residence permits issued in 2023. It plays a crucial role in upholding the right to family life under international and EU law and supporting the integration of third-country nationals. The EU\u2019s framework for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMN European Migration Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T09:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T09:50:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1058\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1497\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EMN Slovenia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"EMN Slovenia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"EMN Slovenia\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/#\/schema\/person\/9f7245ec14fcf79ed31256f5b19ff0de\"},\"headline\":\"Family Reunification of third-country nationals: State of play of law and practice\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-01T09:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T09:50:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\"},\"wordCount\":142,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024_EMN_study_TCN_family_reunification_law_and_practice-1-pdf.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Legal Migration\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emnslovenia.si\/en\/archive-publications\/47377\/\",\"name\":\"Family Reunification of third-country nationals: State of play of law and practice - 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