Beneficiaries of international protection (refugee/subsidiary protection)
If you have received refugee status or subsidiary protection status, you have a right to apply for your family to join you in Ireland. You have 12 months from the date you receive your refugee or subsidiary protection declaration to apply.
Which family members can I apply for? You can apply for your spouse (wife/husband/civil partner) so long as the marriage or civil partnership began before you applied for international protection, and any children who are under 18 years old and not married. If your child turns 18 while you are waiting for a decision on your international protection application, they are no longer eligible.
For children who are under 18 and granted refugee status or subsidiary protection status, they can apply for their parents and siblings who are under 18 to join them in Ireland.
How can I apply? You must apply to the Family Reunification Unit in the Department of Justice in writing. Their address is:
Family Reunification Unit
Immigration Service Delivery
Department of Justice
13-14 Burgh Quay
Dublin 2 D02 XK70
Ireland
In your application, you will need to provide the following information:
- Your Name, Person ID number and address
- For each member of your family:
- Full name
- Relationship to you
- Date of birth
- Nationality
- Current address
The Family Reunification Unit will then send you a questionnaire to complete about your family.
How long does it take? It takes approximately 12-14 months to process applications. Once you have received a positive decision, you will need to apply for a long-stay visa for your family to travel to and enter Ireland. You can apply for this on the Irish Immigration website.
If you wish to apply for any other family members or if you wish to apply after the one year deadline, you can only do so under the ‘Non-EEA Policy Document on Family Reunification’, which is described below.
For more up to date information on family reunification for international protection holders, see: www.irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-join-family-in-ireland/family-reunification-of-international-protection-holders/.
General Family Reunification
This is the main mechanism to apply for family reunification in Ireland if you are a non-EEA national or an Irish citizen.
For non-EEA nationals, there are two categories:
- Category A - Critical Skills Employment Permit holders, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Business Permission Holder, Researchers Approved Scholarship programme students, Intra Corporate Transferees, PhD students, full time non-locum doctors in employment and Minister of Religion.
- Category B - Non Critical Skills Employment permit holders, all Stamp 4 holders.
To apply, you may need to prove you have a certain income, among other requirements. The requirements also change depending on which family members you are applying for, with higher income requirements for some family members.
Information on the application procedure for the different categories can be found here.
Once a family reunification application has been approved, you will need to apply for a long-stay visa so your family can travel to and enter Ireland.