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1. Where an EU Blue Card holder moves to a second Member State in accordance with Article 21 and where the EU Blue Card holder’s family was already constituted in the first Member State, the members of his or her family shall be entitled to accompany or join the EU Blue Card holder. Directive 2003/86/EC and Article 17 of this Directive apply in the cases referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, subject to the derogations provided for in paragraphs 2 to 7 of this Article. Where the family was not already constituted in the first Member State, Article 17 of this Directive applies.

2. By way of derogation from Article 13(1) of Directive 2003/86/EC, the EU Blue Card holder’s family members shall be entitled to enter and stay in the second Member State on the basis of the valid residence permits obtained in the first Member State as family members of an EU Blue Card holder. Where the residence permits of the family members are issued by a Member State that does not apply the Schengen acquis in full and those family members join the EU Blue Card holder when crossing an internal border for which controls have not yet been lifted for the purpose of moving to a second Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full, the second Member State may require the family members to present the residence permits they obtained in the first Member State as family members of the EU Blue Card holder.

3. By way of derogation from Article 5(3) of Directive 2003/86/EC, no later than 1 month after entering the territory of the second Member State, the family members concerned or the EU Blue Card holder, in accordance with national law, shall submit an application for a residence permit as a family member to the competent authorities of that Member State. Where the residence permit of a family member issued by the first Member State expires during the procedure or no longer entitles the holder to reside legally in the second Member State, the second Member State shall allow the family member to stay in its territory until a decision on the application has been taken by the competent authorities of the second Member State, if necessary by issuing a national temporary residence permit or an equivalent authorisation.

4. By way of derogation from Article 5(2) and Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/86/EC, the second Member State may require the family members concerned to present or provide with their application for a residence permit:

(a) their residence permit in the first Member State and a valid travel document, or certified copies thereof;

(b) evidence that they have resided as members of the family of the EU Blue Card holder in the first Member State;

(c) documentary evidence as referred to in Article 7(1), point (b), of Directive 2003/86/EC.

5. Where the conditions set out in this Article are fulfilled and the applications were submitted simultaneously, the second Member State shall issue the residence permits for family members at the same time as the EU Blue Card. By way of derogation from Article 17(4), where the conditions set out in this Article are fulfilled and the family members join the EU Blue Card holder after the EU Blue Card has been granted, residence permits for the family members shall be granted not later than 30 days after the date of submission of the complete application. In duly justified circumstances linked to the complexity of the application, Member States may extend the deadline referred to in the second subparagraph by a maximum of 30 days.

6. This Article applies to family members of EU Blue Card holders who are beneficiaries of international protection only when those EU Blue Card holders move to reside in a Member State other than the Member State which granted them international protection.

7. This Article does not apply to family members of EU Blue Card holders who are beneficiaries of the right to free movement under Union law in the second Member State.