Hierarchies of Privilege Juxtaposing Family Reunification Rights, Integration Requirements, and Nationality in EU Law

This chapter focuses on EU laws and policies on family reunification in order to demonstrate how they create new ‘others’. The creation of Union citizenship disrupted the binary logic of ‘national’ and ‘foreigner’ in national immigration regulation even though, at first sight, it seemed to have recreated it at the EU level as the ‘EU citizen’ and ‘Third Country National’ (TCN). However, on a closer look, it becomes apparent that the new picture is much more complex, as a new hierarchy of statuses with different packages of rights has been created at the EU level for nationals, EU citizens, and TCNs alike. This chapter compares and contrasts family reunification rights of Union citizens and TCNs granted under the Treaties, international agreements, and secondary EU law and sheds light on the different degrees of ‘otherness’ and privilege created at EU level.