Abstract
This chapter analyses the individual status of a Third Country National (TCN) from a standpoint which highlights the creation and the conditioning of this status by European institutions and laws. It is divided into two sections. The first discusses TCNs under European Union (EU) law to determine how this individual status has been established through the formation of the EU and is today formally recognised and regulated through EU law. The interplay between EU nationals’ and TCNs’ rights and freedoms is then examined further in the second section which focuses on TCNs’ right to marry in the member state of Malta. This section broadly addresses the clear tension between the universal character of human rights and the systems for their implementation and enforcement within member states; which are mainly national in character and addressed to citizens and this notwithstanding the EU’s accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). More specifically, the interrelationship between TCNs’ rights to marry and to exercise freedom of movement within member states, as well as the constraints which condition their access to such rights, provide a deeper understanding of the juridical implications of the individual status of TCN within the EU.
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- 1.
European Union citizenship is additional to, and does not replace, national citizenship.
- 2.
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are the only EEA member states outside the EU.
- 3.
Switzerland is the only EFTA member state which is not simultaneously also a member of the EEA.
- 4.
For instance, the entry of Croatia as the 28th member state means that Croatians no longer have the status of TCNs as they did pre-2013.
- 5.
Example, inter alia, Directive 2003/109/EC concerns the status of TCNs who are long-term residents.
- 6.
The EU also has funds for the ‘Integration of Third Country Nationals’ which aim at promoting the European Agenda for TCNs legally residing in the EU.
- 7.
A Blue Card is a work permit granted to highly-educated skilled workers to stay and work in a member state.
- 8.
Being, (a) the spouse; (b) the partner with whom the union citizen has contracted a registered partnership, on the basis of the legislation of a member state, if the legislation of the host member state treats registered partnerships as equivalent to marriage and in accordance with the conditions laid down in the relevant legislation of the host member state; (c) the direct descendants who are under the age of 21 or are dependents and those of the spouse or partner as defined in point (b); and, (d) the dependent direct relatives in the ascending line and those of the spouse or partner as defined in point (b).
- 9.
C-127/08.
- 10.
TCNs who apply for the Individual Investor Programme must also buy a property worth at least 350,000 Euros or rent a property for 16,000 Euros per year and make an investment in stocks or bonds for 150,000 Euros.
- 11.
Article 12 of the ECHR: Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.
- 12.
Act XIV of 1987.
- 13.
In the case Raymond Gilford v. Hon. Prime Minister et al. decided by the Maltese, First Hall, Civil Court on 22 April, 1997, the Court held that for the first time, in 1987, the right to marry was included as a fundamental right under Maltese law.
- 14.
In practice, only Church marriages produce the same civil effects as civil marriages.
- 15.
Malta, located in the South of Europe, is the desired destination of many asylum seekers who try to reach EU territory from Libya, by crossing by boat across the Mediterranean Sea.
- 16.
Malta joined the EU in 2004.
- 17.
See Ombudsman. (August 2009). The Right of Immigrants to Marry (Case no. 28). Office of the Ombudsman Malta.
- 18.
See Desira and Eltarhuni v. Director of the Public Registry et al. decided by the First Hall, Civil Court on 24 February 2012 and Dr Shields and Dong Mei v. the Attorney General and Marriage Registrar et al. decided by the First Hall, Civil Court on 15 April 2015.
- 19.
Ogunyemi Kehinde Olusegum and Sandra Wetterich v. Director of the Public Registry and the Attorney General decided by the First Hall, Civil Court on 4 May 2010.
References
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Harris, D., O’Boyle, M., Bates, E., & Buckley, C. (2014). In Harris, O’Boyle, & Warbrick (Eds.), Law of the European convention on human rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zammit, D. (2012). Consultative assessment on the integration of third country nationals. International Organization of Migration, 28–29.
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Sadegh, I. (2019). Third Country National. In: Bartolini, A., Cippitani, R., Colcelli, V. (eds) Dictionary of Statuses within EU Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00554-2_74
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00554-2_74
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