Facts
The appellant, a national of North Macedonia, came to Switzerland in 1998 as part of a family reunification. He married a Kosovar national in 2005 and obtained a residence permit. The spouses have two sons who have settlement permits in the canton of Zurich. After the separation and divorce, the appellant married a compatriot in 2017 and applied for the reunification of his children from his first marriage. The Migration Office of the canton of Zurich and the Security Directorate of the canton of Zurich rejected the reunification, as the time limits for reunification were not met and there were no important family reasons.
The appellants applied to the Federal Court to approve the reunification of the children, as the children had returned to their mother in their best interests and there were important reasons for a subsequent family reunification.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the appellant has a right to family reunification, based on Art. 8 ECHR. It found that the appellant can invoke the protection of his private life in a justifiable manner, as he has been living in Switzerland for 18 years and has a residence permit.
The court further examined whether the conditions for a subsequent family reunification are met. It found that the time limits for the children's reunification were not met and that the appellant had submitted his application for the children's reunification clearly after the expiry of the relevant deadline. The court found that there are no objective, comprehensible reasons why the reunification occurred so late.
The court pointed out that the approval of the…