Tuesday 22 July 2008

People wanting to bring their foreign husband or wife to the Netherlands do not have to earn at least 120% of the minimum wage, a court in Roermond ruled on Monday.

The case was brought by a Sri Lankan man who wanted to join his wife in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports.

The measure was introduced in 2004 to tighten the rules on family reunification.The justice ministry is to appeal.

The woman at the centre of this case has an income above that of the basic welfare rate ? which is the required amount for family reunification. But it does not meet the 120% rule for family formation, the paper says.

Under Dutch law, family reunification refers to marriages or relationships which existed before one of the partners moved to the Netherlands. Family formation is used if the relationship dates from after the partner arrives in the country. That distinction does not exist in EU law, the Volkskrant says.

Earlier this month judges also ruled that people coming from non-western countries to join a spouse in the Netherlands do not have to take citizenship and language tests in their country of origin.

Discrimination

The citizenship tests form an especially difficult problem for poorly educated people from developing countries. Wanda Pelt, formerly of the Foreign Partner Foundation, says:

"Many are not used to self-study. There's a lack of local facilities and it's practically impossible to prepare yourself for the test".

People from richer countries have long been exempt from having to do the tests. They include those from other European Union countries, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Human Rights Watch calls this 'discrimination' and finds it reason enough to do away with the tests altogether.

European Court

The Dutch justice ministry is not happy with the Amsterdam court's ruling and is considering an appeal, which would have to be lodged within four weeks. If the case does go to appeal, the Amsterdam ruling will be suspended and citizenship tests abroad will, for the time being, carry on as before. Even if the court's decision that there is no legal basis for the tests were to stand, parliament could decide to change the law to provide the required legal basis.

However, Mr Louwerse is not going to be put off easily. He warns that

"The present ruling is a complex one. If the case goes to appeal, I'm prepared to take it to the European Court if my client agrees."

Interesting.

they do it different now , they move to belgium and ket their future hubby or wife come to belgium and they marry there , then its easy to get into holland

my point is about to get longterm visa so that case it might help a bit about if who is alredy to be hubby or wife with ppls from holland and alredy have offcially then have a big chance dont have to do dutch exam.just keep eyes on the news in the future is ka.

yeah thats the way we are thinking too to move to belgium just in case...but anyway is this a good news, isnt it?

good for the dutch!!

they would make the exam easier. Agian, cost 350 euro its criminal for me :S

Not sure how hard the exam is, but i think its a good idea to keep it tough.

Its a childish way of making sure that new people moving to Holland will have a reasonable chance of a good life here. If you dont speak the language, it will be very hard to build a normal life.

And off course it would be better if there was no exam and you would learn Dutch when you stay here, but thousands of immigrants in the past proved that it doesnt work that way in reality.