Pro Bono

An Afghan family reunited

Shortly after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, 273 students from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) were evacuated to Portugal in December 2021 on humanitarian grounds. Among them was Zahra's 14-year-old brother Ali Abbasi. He was initially accommodated in a centre for young people.

The Abbasi sisters visiting our Frankfurt office in November 2022

Ali's parents and siblings only managed to flee Afghanistan to Germany one year later, in 2022.

Hogan Lovells’ support for Ali

First, the firm made it possible for the parents and siblings to visit Ali in Portugal after more than a year of separation. This was important for the hope and cohesion of the family.

In providing further legal support, the Hogan Lovells team, faced numerous obstacles. These included clarifying the responsibilities of all the authorities involved, such as the , the Foreign Ministry, and the consulate. After an application to extend the parents' residence permit to Ali failed, the team applied for family reunification.

The team was able to convince the authorities that due to the special circumstances of the case - risk to the child's well-being, being a minor, 18 months of separation from his family - they had to grant Ali the residence permit, as any other decision would have violated Ali's rights under Article 6 of the German Basic Law, Article 8 ECHR, Article 10 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Articles 7 and 24 (2) and (3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Ali successfully obtained a visa to enter Germany. The team took care of all the formalities and organised the trip: He arrived on an escorted flight on a Saturday in May 2023 to be reunited with his family.