Grand Chamber decision of 11 December 2007, Case C-291/05, Minister voor Vreemdelingenzaken en Integratie v. R.N.G. Eind The return of the member state national and the destiny of the European citizen
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2008
Read carefully: A Community national leaves his or her home state (the ‘first country’) to work in a host member state (the ‘second country’). While in the second country, he or she exercises the right to family reunification with a spouse, partner or dependent who is not a national of any EU or EEA member state (a ‘third-country’ national). When the Community national returns to the first country together with the family member, what determines the family member's right of residence in the first country? Community law – in which case the Community national would continue to enjoy the right of family reunification as before? Or the national immigration law of the first country, which could potentially dictate more restrictive conditions for family reunification?