UA
FR
DEby Sophia Garcia
The European Union has a program with the express purpose of preserving family unit. This includes inviting non-national family members to reside with their family members who have Temporary Protection Directive status as an EU member state. This program is called the Family Reunification program. Although the program was enacted by the EU, member states have jurisdiction over requirements for their state.
Belgian Law introduced Family Reunification under the Law of 15 December 1980, commonly known as the Aliens Act. This was later amended by Law of 10 March 2024 to include residence for stateless persons and parents of foreign accompanied minors with international protection.
In Belgium, the Family Reunification procedure grants applicants the right to work in Belgium, and a D visa, a long-term visa that provides the stepping stones for permanent residency, appealing to some Ukrainian refugees.
Family Reunification Eligibility with Family Living Under Temporary Protection in Belgium
The Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), is an EU initiative that provides displaced peoples protection and residence permits, following the war in Ukraine in 2022. The following are eligible family members who can reunify with family that is currently living in Belgium under TPD status:
- Spouses
- Partners
- Minor children
- Mother and Father of an unmarried TPD minor
- Other relatives that were living and fully reliant on TPD family member prior to 24/2/2022
If the family member meets these requirements, they must then submit proof that they meet the eligibility requirements for family reunification, provide a medical certificate proving they are free of quarantinable diseases, active tuberculosis, and if the family member is over 18, they must provide a criminal record. Once all documents are prepared, they must submit them to the Embassy of Belgium in Kyiv.
Even for eligible family members, the practice of family reunification may be fundamentally impossible, considering that in times of war, documents can easily get lost or destroyed in the conflict. Other such barriers interfere with the process of delivering necessary documents. This includes the destruction of necessary buildings to obtain vital documents, such as the destruction of a hospital, necessary for obtaining a medical certificate. There may also be logistical barriers to arriving to Kyiv, with heavily damaged roads and airstrikes exposing family members to increased danger.
Who Family Reunification Fails Under Temporary Protection
Although family reunification applies to a range of family members in a family unit, some are excluded, such as grandparents, adult children, siblings, and parents of adults under TDP. Grandparents are among the especially vulnerable, typically facing limited mobility and disrupted care.
Partners are a special case. While they were listed above as eligible to apply for family reunification, many would be unable to if they do not meet the extra qualifications, such as proof of a long lasting relationship and maintaining frequent contact. With war, it is increasingly difficult to maintain consistent contact with power outages and records of relationships may be lost in the destruction.
Family Reunification Must Protect All Members of a Family
Families are not just the intermediate family unit, they are also the extended family unit. Extended family units are deeply embedded in Ukrainian culture, heavily supporting one another emotionally, practically, and socially, thus resulting in close bonds between extended family members and family members with TPD status. Most notably the EU hasn’t explicitly limited family reunification to only intermediate family, leaving the scope open for extended family members. If the main purpose behind family reunification procedure is to preserve family units, all members should be eligible and protected.