The ECJ building in Luxembourg. Credits: Alfonso Salgueiro/Flickr

The European Court of Justice has found in the Naime Dogan vs. Germany Case C-138/13 that Germany’s pre-entry language test contravenes the EU-Turkey Association Agreement and constitutes a disproportionate obstacle to family reunification.

In this judgement, the ECJ did not pronounce on the pre-entry test’s compatibility with the Family Reunification Directive (MPG briefing on the Directive). Still, the ECJ will have to address this question soon in response to a request for a preliminary ruling from the Netherlands lodged on 3 April 2014 (Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken; other parties: K and A, Case C-153/14). Still, the ECJ’s judgement does hint at its likely answer on whether such a test can apply to all types of third-country nationals: “the language requirement at issue goes beyond what is necessary in order to attain the objective pursued, in so far as the absence of evidence of sufficient language knowledge automatically leads to the dismissal of the application for family reunification, without account being taken of the specific circumstances of each case“.

The 2007 test was assessed by MIPEX as not yet favourable for integration (scoring 57/100 points), because the test creates as many opportunities as obstacles for learning German. MIPEX monitoring shows that the same or greater obstacles exist in the language tests for family reunification in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, who also submitted observations in this ECJ case, as well as the United Kingdom. The weaknesses of these tests were presented in a 2011 MIPEX blog, later cited by The Guardian. Attaining basic level German and passing the professional test abroad is feasible for many learners, but not for several types of vulnerable learners who are not exempt from the test. Moreover, free German courses and tests are not available in and across several countries. The MIPEX scores predict that the pre-entry test may only be a language learning incentive for spouses abroad who can pay.  Only France’s language requirements come out on MIPEX as slightly favourable for language learning because France’s network of migration and language representatives abroad provide free courses for all applicants and provide exemptions for all those cannot access them.

French classes to migrants and refugees in France. Credits: European Commission

Evaluations by government and independent academics have confirmed that pre-entry language tests and requirements have only marginal effects on language learning and integration, as MPG summarised in its 2011 literature review. The effects on language learning are marginal and often disappear by the time spouses get their visa, move to the country, and enroll in an in-country language course, where language teachers have said that they cannot tell the difference between immigrants who passed a pre-entry test and those who did not. The tests also seem to have little-to-no-effect on the education, labour market integration, or incidence of forced marriages among reuniting spouses. Instead, the introduction of pre-entry tests and other recent integration requirements has clearly had a disproportionate effect on limiting the number of family reunifications, as demonstrated by national statistics and by MPG’s comparative analysis.

Instead of pre-entry tests, high-quality and accessible information sessions and language courses, such as those by the Goethe Institute, British Council, or Alliance Francaise, have been found to improve spouses’ motivation and preparation for their life in their new country of residence. Unfortunately, these courses are often unavailable, inaccessible, low-quality, or expensive in many countries and circumstances. As a result, language courses abroad prior to migration are often much less effective than courses in country after migration. In Germany’s case, spouses who cannot pass the pre-entry test cannot then move to Germany, where they would have learned German rather well through the government’s obligatory German courses. Indeed, Germany’s in-country language courses have been well-evaluated as effective for learning German (Special Feature on Language Courses from European Website on Integration).

The internal office of the Italian Ministry of the Interior has announced that it is working on an administrative reform that opens the provisions of ius soli to the Italian-born children of beneficiaries of international protection. This would give them equivalent rights to the children of stateless people as per Law 91 of 1992 which says that “Italian citizenship is bestowed to the child born in the Italian national territory when his/her parents are unknown, stateless or they do not transmit their citizenship to the child in accordance with their nationality’s legislation” (Italian Consulate). This means that children born in Italy to refugees who have been granted asylum could become Italian citizens once this change is put into place.

Although the numbers that will be affected by this change seem to be minimal (there is mention of about 200 cases), these provisions are a favourable model for extending ius soli to all other legally resident children born in the country, as exists in most other EU15 countries. As the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) explains, young people born and raised in Italy can only declare themselves Italian after the age of 18 presuming they are legally registered and have uninterrupted residence. This means that they face inevitable administrative problems. Knowing no other country but Italy as their own, Italian-born students are removed from classes according to new 30% non-citizens’ quota. Their residence is easily interrupted by spending too long with family abroad.

Further information on access to citizenship and the modes of acquisition of citizenship in Italy are highlighted on the EUDO Citizenship website and the Handbook for Italy which were developed as part of the Access to Citizenship and its impact on integration (ACIT) project.

One of MPG’s interested partners on citizenship campaigns, Rete G2, welcomes this new interpretation of the Italian citizenship law by the Ministry of Interior and makes a strong call to the Chamber of Deputies to implement, by the end of 2014, a comprehensive reform of the citizenship law by recognizing the right to citizenship of those born in Italy to foreign parents or who have migrated to Italy as a child. In May 2014, the Commission on Constitutional Affairs at the Chamber of Deputies resumed the debate on the reform of the citizenship law. G2 have been campaigning for a change in this law for quite some time through its Italia Sono Anch’io campaign. This is one example that MPG is using to develop a common model for citizenship and voter mobilisation campaigns across Europe. Having consulted European and US practitioners on the issues of naturalization, political mobilization and electoral participation, MPG is developing a best practice model that can be used and adapted by practitioners across Europe as they develop their own campaigns. The objective is to:

• facilitate campaigns that directly support immigrants in becoming citizens, assist with voter registration and increase election turnouts;
• address the lack of comprehensive approaches to citizenship acquisition on a national level;
• lay the foundations for future campaigns on a national level;
• raise awareness about immigrant disenfranchisement as a major democratic deficit in Europe;
• in the long run, increase the political participation of immigrant citizens