Family Reunification in Ireland

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has recently voiced some much needed concern about the family reunification decision making process in Ireland.

Individuals in Ireland with refugee status have the right to apply for permission to have family members live with them in the state. Often it will be years before an individual can exercise this right due to the excessive length of time taken for refugee status to be granted in many cases and even then, the onerous requirements laid down by the Department of Justice make the process a complicated and drawn out affair.

Noting such problems the UNHCR has said it is:

...concerned at the length of the decision-making process, which is currently between 18 to 24 months for a decision on a family reunification application.

Hopefully, Irish authorities will seriously consider the recommendations made by the UNHCR, including:

...the strengthening of the family reunification process by reducing processing times, relaxing evidentiary and interpretation rules and by extending the national legal provisions on family reunification to resettled refugees.

Read the full report here.