The Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof ; VwGH) changed its previous jurisprudence in one essential point in favor of family reunification. This point concerns the question of when a child of a person, who wants to reunite his/her family, needs to be below the age of 18. The VwGH has stated that it is sufficient if a child is at the age of 18 (or below) when the application is submitted. Therefore, it has no procedural consequences, if the child becomes 18 years old during ongoing proceedings (see VwGH Ra 2017/22/0021 dated 09.09.2020, referring to the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) dated 16.07.2020, B.M.M. et al., C-133/19; C-136/19 and C-137/19).
Relief for family reunification for children below the age of 18
