Yes to family reunification for citizenship applicantion.

Court of Cassation: There is need of extensive interpretation of the immigration law,

19th June 2009: Those who have applied for and are waiting to be granted Italian citizenship have a right to family reunification, the Cassation Court has ruled.

The case was brought up by a Brazilian man whose application for family reunification with his wife was rejected by the Provincial Police Headquarters in Trento.At that point he took the case to the Tribunal of Trento who ruled that he had a right to be joined by his wife.

According to the judges, even if the Immigration law doesn’t expressly allow those waiting to be granted Italian citizenship to be joined by their family members, family reunification must be granted in order to avoid the irrational inequality in treatment of holders of different types of permits. It must also be done to safeguard the family unity.

This ruling was confirmed by the Court of Appeal (where the Ministry of Home Affairs had challenged the previous ruling) and finally at the Court of Cassation.

The judges ruled that there is need of extensive interpretation of the Immigration law since the Permit of Stay for waiting be granted citizenship is a more stable permit compared to other types of permits.

Furthermore, treating two substantially identical cases in different ways may lead to a conflict with the principles of the Constitution.