Residence rights of family members

If you move to Ireland you may be able to bring your Non-EEA family members to live with you. Your right to have your family join you in Ireland depends on:

• Your residence status in Ireland
• Your family relationship with the person

In some cases, you have a legal right to be joined by your family. But in many situations, you must show that you have the income to support them and satisfy eligibility criteria. The information on this page is mostly about spouses, partners and dependent children.

Irish citizens do not have an automatic right to be joined by family members, if they are non-EEA nationals. If your family member is an EEA, Swiss or UK national, they can join you in Ireland and do not have to apply for permission to stay.

Spouses from outside the EEA, UK and Switzerland

If you are returning to Ireland with your spouse, they may need an entry visa. They should apply for a long stay (D) visa. Your income in the 3 years before the application should be more than €40,000 in total, not including any social welfare payments you received during that period.

After they arrive on a long stay visa, or if they are from a country that allows them to travel to Ireland without a visa, you should both go to your immigration registration office to apply for permission to reside in Ireland.

If your spouse is already resident in Ireland (for example, if they have a student visa), they should make an appointment to go to their immigration registration office to apply for residence as the spouse of an Irish citizen.

But if your spouse lives in Ireland but does not have permission to live here, they must make an application by filling in a form and sending supporting documents to Immigration Service Delivery (ISD). This also applies if your spouse is an international protection applicant.

Partners

If you are returning to Ireland with your de facto non-EEA partner, they must apply for a visa or preclearance before coming to Ireland. A de facto partner is a person you are in a relationship with that is like a marriage, but you are not married.

If you are in a de facto relationship with someone who is already resident in Ireland (for example, if they have a student visa) they can apply for residence based on their relationship with you. You are eligible to apply if you have been in a relationship for 2 years or more.

Applications from de facto partners who are living in Ireland without a valid residence permission in Ireland are not accepted.

Parents of Irish citizen children

Parents of Irish citizen children can apply for residence. If the parent is outside of Ireland, they may need a visa to come to Ireland.

To qualify for residence you must be the biological parent of an Irish citizen child (and named on the child’s birth certificate) and you must be involved in the child’s upbringing. The child must live in Ireland and be under 18. You can apply if your child is over the age of 18 and they have a disability that makes independent living impossible.

You can read more about how to apply for permission to stay in Ireland as the parent of an Irish citizen child.

Children

Children under 16 do not need to register with ISD. If they plan to join you in Ireland, they may need to apply for a visa to enter the country.

If you have children aged between 16 and 18, or under 23 and in fulltime education, they must register with ISD if they are not Irish, British, Swiss or EEA citizens.

Non-EEA and non-UK family members of UK citizens who move to Ireland from 1 January 2021, must apply for residency. They do not have an automatic right of residence in Ireland.

You should check if they need a visa for entering the State. If they do not need a visa, they must apply for preclearance before travelling to Ireland if they plan to make an application for residence.

If you are an EU/EEA, Swiss or UK citizen and your family member is also an EU/EEA, Swiss or UK citizen, then you do not have to make an application for them to join you here in Ireland. They do not have to register with Immigration Service Delivery (the Irish immigration authorities).

If your family members are non EU/EEA, Swiss or UK citizens, they must apply for residence.

Qualifying and permitted family members

In EU law, there are 2 types of family member who can apply for a residence card: qualifying family members and permitted family members.

The following are qualifying family members:

• Your spouse or civil partner
• Your child or the child of your spouse under the age of 21
• Your grandchild or your spouse’s grandchild under the age of 21
• Your dependent parent, or dependent parent of your spouse
• Your dependent grandparent, or the dependent grandparent of your spouse
• Other direct, dependent descendants or direct, dependent relatives in the ascending line (for example, great grandparents or great grandchildren) of either you or your spouse

Children over 21 are generally considered qualifying family members if they are in education or are dependent on you due to an illness or disability. You will have to show that your parents or grandparents (or the parents or grandparents of your spouse) were dependent on you before they came to Ireland.

Permitted family members include:

• Your partner
• Any relative who is part of your household that is not a qualifying family member
• Any relative who needs your personal care because of illness or disability

You can read about residence rights of EEA citizens and their families.

If you were granted international protection (either refugee or subsidiary protection status) or you came to Ireland as a programme refugee, you have a right to family reunification.

You can apply for the following family members to join you in Ireland:

• Your spouse or civil partner
• Your children aged under 18
• Your parents if you are under 18

You may be able to invite your family to live with you in Ireland depending on the type of residence permission you have.

Critical Skills Employment Permit holders

If you have a Critical Skills Employment Permit, your spouse or partner, and your dependent family can apply to join you immediately

Students

If you are studying in Ireland, your family cannot join you in Ireland unless you are a PhD student. There are also limited exceptions for recognised scholarship programmes from another country (for example the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme).

Employment permit holders and Stamp 4 holders

If you have an employment permit (other than a Critical Skills Employment Permit) or a Stamp 4, then your family can apply to join you in Ireland after 12 months. You do not have a right to be joined by your family, the policy of Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) (pdf) is to assess each application on its own merits.

You should have enough income to support your family. If your spouse or partner wants to join you in Ireland, you should have earned at least €30,000 per year in the 2 years before the application.

For children, the amount you should earn is based on the weekly Working Family Payment income limits for your family size.

If your parents, or other elderly relative that is dependent on you or your spouse or partner, wish to join you in Ireland, you must have:

• Income of €60,000 per year for one relative
• Income of €75,000 for two relatives

Both your income and that of your spouse or partner is considered. Having the income does not guarantee that permission will be granted. You can read about the other requirements for elderly dependent relatives on the ISD website.

You can read more about non-EEA family reunification in the policy guidelines (pdf).

You can contact the Department of Justice using the online customer portal.