The Europeanization of Love. The Marriage of Convenience in European Migration Law

Since family reunification is the main reason for migration into the European Union, control practices have been put in place to regulate migration and to check for fraudulent family relationships, such as marriages of convenience. These control practises involve investigating intimate relationships to assess their “genuineness” in accordance with normative models and with the utilization of techniques that are often intrusive and invade privacy. This article examines what forms of control practices are legally allowed in European migration law and then compares them to the national control practices that are actually being exercised. The author’s finding reveal that national practices are not in accordance with European law nor with fundamental rights and that the problems identified with such practices showcase that human dignity is being violated.