Entry and Residence of Aliens in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

This chapter explores the extent to which the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) employs these arguments in its judgments related to migration regulations and how it assesses the significance of the rights guaranteed in the European Convention of Human Rights for entry and residence of aliens. The ECtHR’s case law is of particular importance for this broader topic, since it considerably influences migration regulations and the interpretation of fundamental rights at the national level, and since it will serve as a guideline for the interpretation of fundamental rights in the field of migration law by the European Court of Justice. In the Abdulaziz case, in which the main principles applied in later immigration cases were established, the ECtHR firmly rejected the claim that issues of entry and residence of aliens generally fall outside the margin of the rights in the Convention. There are some contradictions and open questions in the ECtHR’s case law in the field of migration law.