Pravica do združitve družine in merila jezikovne integracije

The Family Reunification Directive (2003/86/EC) sets out common European standards in the field of the family reunification of third-country nationals, but leaves certain regulatory decisions to the Member States. One of these decisions is the introduction of (linguistic) integration measures for third-country nationals and their family members. In the light of the right to family life, the paper outlines the legal framework in the area of family reunification and highlights the limits set by human rights standards to the establishment of such integration measures. In doing so, it focuses on the recent amendments to the Slovenian Aliens Act, which make the extension of a residence permit for family reunification conditional on a "survival-level" knowledge of Slovenian, and places them in the broader context of the European trend towards stricter integration criteria.