Information Note on the Court’s case-law 230
June 2019
Shiozaki v. France (communicated case) - 69802/17
Article 14
Discrimination
Social-security benefit refused to a foreign child who had entered the country legally, albeit by a procedure other than family reunification: communicated
The applicants are a couple of Japanese nationals who hold long-stay residence permits. They entered France legally in 2007, the first applicant under a “salaried employee” visa, then his wife and their older child under a “visitor” visa. This so-called “accompanying family” procedure, provided for by a ministerial circular of 2006 and intended for highly qualified workers, is to be distinguished from the traditional “family reunification” procedure.
In 2011 the Family Allowances Office (Caisse d’allocations familiales – CAF) refused to grant the applicants an allowance for their older son, on the grounds that the parents were unable to submit a medical certificate for him; this document was normally issued in the context of the family reunification procedure. In 2013 the applicants asked the relevant authorities to grant “family reunification on an exceptional basis to children already present in France, in line with the best interests of the child”, but they received no reply. Their appeals were unsuccessful.
The applicants argue that this difference in treatment between, on the one hand, families who enter the country under the family reunification procedure and, on the other, families who enter the country, equally legally, under a different procedure which does not involve a medical check, is discriminatory.
Communicated under Article 14 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 8.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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