Facts
The appellant, A.X., a national of Togo, filed an asylum application in Switzerland on 24 April 2012, which was granted by decision of 23 August 2013. On the same day, he was granted a residence permit in the canton of Vaud. On 15 October 2013, he filed a family asylum application for his daughter B.X. with the Federal Office for Migration (FOM), which was rejected. Subsequently, A.X. filed a family reunification application for his daughter with the Population Service of the canton of Vaud, which was rejected by decision of 14 July 2017.
The appellant contested this decision before the Cantonal Court, which dismissed his appeal on 6 April 2018. A.X. then filed a public law appeal with the Federal Court, requesting the annulment of the judgment of 6 April 2018 and the granting of a residence permit for his daughter.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether the filing of a family reunification application under Art. 51 AsylA had an impact on compliance with the deadline under Art. 47 FNIA. The FNIA provides that family reunification for the children of a holder of a residence permit must be requested within a period of 5 years, and for children over 12 years old, within a period of 12 months.
The Federal Court considered that the legislature had not regulated the issue of the impact of the filing of a family reunification application under Art. 51 AsylA on compliance with Art. 47 FNIA. However, it estimated that the subsidiary nature of the FNIA with respect to the AsylA implies that the foreigner who can claim family reunification under the AsylA can first choose to go through this procedure, before filing, in the event of refusal, a family reunification application based on the ordinary regime.
The Federal Court therefore considered that the application based…