Restrictive rules for family unification are in place in a range of European countries today. In response, some persons affected by these rules are mobilizing their European Union (EU) citizenship to bring in a spouse from outside the EU. EU free movement legislation provides extensive protection of family life for mobile citizens enabling them to sidestep or contest national law. This article discusses what such restrictive policies and migrant strategies entail for the economic, sociocultural, and political integration of transnational couples. It develops a dynamic, multidimensional analytics of integration beyond the nation-state. The merits of this approach are then illustrated through a heuristic case study based on narrative interviews with Danish-international couples in the border region of Øresund. I show that while restrictive domestic rules for entry can be a barrier to integration, EU citizenship can help promote inclusion in existing and emerging communities.
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