This EMN Focussed Study responds to a growing concern, notably of policymakers as well as in the media, that the right to family reunification may be misused as a route into settlement in the EU.
It also serves to inform the Green Paper on the Family Reunification Directive 2003/86/EC. The aim of the study was to identify the scale and scope of two instances of misuse, namely marriages of convenience and false declarations of parenthood and to provide clear evidence, to the extent possible and including available statistics, of these types of misuse and how best to address them. The study also summarises (Member) States’ cu rrent practices in its detection and prevention.