Many refer us that family rejoining proceedings are being boycotted (I cannot find other ways to define this fact). Family rejoining is a right guaranteed by both Italin laws and International conventions, n. 175 1975. Convention n. 175 was issued by the International labour organization, Italy has signed this convention and therefore it is an Italian law as well. This right, which only requires for the evaluation of lodging and income availability, is in fact obstacled by police headquarters and embassies, but their interpretation of law finds no law basis.
Residual residence permit validity: a requisite?
Offices often affirm that the authorization to family rejoining must be given in at qualified police headquarters and it can be issued only to workers whose residence papers are to still last for quite a long residual time. Some headquarters say that residence papers must last a year, some others nine moths, in order to allow to family rejoining. They say that they cannot risk to release authorization to people whose papers may soon or in the meanwhile expire.
Police headquarters and embassies expect that authorization to family rejoining is applyed to long before residence papers expiry date in order not to risk that relatives come and rejoin themselves with a clandestine. This is ridicolous since Bossi-fini law residence papers usually last only one year. When workers manage to obtain papers they usually find out that the release date of papers is not the same of the day migrants have documents in their hands... it usually is much earlier especially in case of renewals.
In this case the date should be the one of papers renewal application form. It usually happens that workers have already ‘used’ a part of papers validity time when residence papers weren’t in the worker’s hands.
Residence papers are everyday shorter, therefore requiring a residual validity makes things more difficult.
Anyway what police headquarters ask for find no legal basis. Some desks at police headquarters state the following: “the application to family rejoining authorization cannot be given in in fact in case police headquarters issue the go ahead it will then be the embassy to stop proceedings in case residence papers are to soon expire.”
This is clearly unlawful. In case papers are to soon expire, nobody knows whether renewal application will be rejected or not. Rules say that papers are renewable, exceptions state that there are some cases provided for by law not allowing permits renewals. Anyway family rejoinings cannot be denied on the quoted basis.
What we’ve been so far talking about is clearly arbitrary.
Migrant citizens can appeal to local court against such denials to family rejoining.
Appealing to court
Appeals can be brought into act on basis of immigration consolidated act art. 30. This article provides for that the appeal is to be a urgent measure at court. This means that the appeal will be quite quick and it can take to a perentory obbligation: qualified offices (police headquarters, Foreign office or consulates) are obliged to immediately release authorizations to family rejoining.
Such authorizations are a subjective right workers hold.
Other conditions offices mean to make compulsory are arbitrary, no laws confirm them and should be appealed against at courts which oblige qualified offices to respect law and its instructions.
