Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Qs 1 - Who can apply for Family Reunification under the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended)?

Only persons who have been granted refugee status in Ireland can apply for Family Reunification under Section 18 of this Act.

Persons who have been granted permission to enter or to remain in this State under Section 18 of this Act are not eligible to apply for family reunification under Section 18 of this Act (i.e. the person who applies for Family Reunification of other family members must have been granted refugee status in this State). Persons who have only residency rights in the State on any other basis are not eligible to apply.

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Qs 2 - For whom can a refugee apply for Family Reunification under Section 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended)?

1. A refugee who is married can apply for his/her spouse if the marriage is subsisting on the date s/he applies.

2. A refugee can apply for his/her children who are under 18 years and unmarried.

3. A refugee, who is under 18 years, can apply for his/her parents.

4. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform also has discretion to grant permission for other dependent family members, other than those listed above, to be reunified with a refugee in certain circumstances (grandparent, parent, brother, sister, child, grandchild, ward or guardian of the refugee). In these cases, a refugee must show clear evidence of how each person is depending on him/her.

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Qs 3 - Where and how can a refugee make an application for Family Reunification for family members who are not living in Ireland?

If you have been granted Refugee Status and wish to apply for family member(s) who are not living in Ireland to join you in Ireland you must apply in writing to:

Family Reunification Section,
Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS),
13 - 14 Burgh Quay,
Dublin 2.

For further information on documents required and the appropriate visa application fee please refer to www.inis.gov.ie. At no point does ORAC accept applications for Family Reunification from the Refugee.

If your application for Family Reunification is successful, your family member will be required to apply for a visa to enter Ireland. The visa application should not be made until such a time as you have received notification that your Family Reunification application has been approved and your family member has obtained a passport or travel document. The visa application should be submitted to the Irish Consulate in or accredited to your family member's country of residence. Details of all Irish Embassies can be found on www.dfa.ie.

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Qs 4 - Where and how can a refugee make an application for Family Reunification for family members who are now living in Ireland?

If you have been granted Refugee Status and wish to apply for family member(s) who are living with you in Ireland you must apply in writing to:

Family Reunification Section,
Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS),
13 - 14 Burgh Quay,
Dublin 2.

For further information on documents required please refer to www.inis.gov.ie. At no point does ORAC accept applications for Family Reunification from the Refugee.

There is no fee for this application. If the family member has been reunited and lives at the same address as the Refugee, this in itself does not provide that the family member is legally reunified nor does it provide that he or she has any legal status in Ireland until such a time as a decision has been made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law form on the Family Reunification application.

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Qs. 5 - How is the application for Family Reunification dealt with?

When a letter of application is received by Family Reunification Unit, Immigration Division, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2, they will send an acknowledgement to the refugee and forward the letter of application and also a copy of the visa application, if applicable, to the Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner for an examination and a report to be written in accordance with Section 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended).

In order to write a report under Section 18, this Office may write to the refugee and request him/her to answer questions about his/her application and to send them, with original documents which will assist him/her in the application, to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2). This information should be returned to this Office, at the latest, within 10 working days of the request so as not to delay the application unnecessarily. When a response is received, this Office will send a written acknowledgement of the response to the refugee within 5 working days of receiving it. If no response is received or our letter has been returned and marked 'gone away' or 'not called for' the application can only be processed with the information that is already available in this Office. This, in some cases where more up-to-date information has not been given, may result in the refugee's not getting the most favourable outcome for his/her application.

The refugee should notify this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2) immediately if s/he has changed address. This Office may write to the refugee at any time during which his/her application is being processed, it is, therefore, essential that the refugee ensures that s/he has given his/her correct address details to this Office.

When the examination and investigations have been done under Section 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996, (as amended) a report is written and sent to Family Reunification Unit, Immigration Division, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 for a decision on the application. Our Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2) will send a letter to the refugee which will inform him/her that a Section 18 report on his/her application has been forwarded there. This completes this Office's part of the process.
When a decision is reached on an application for Family Reunification, the Minister will send a letter to the refugee which will inform him/her of the outcome of his/her application.

If a refugee has a legal representative, who is doing his/her Family Reunification application on his/her behalf, the refugee must give this information in writing to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2) and the refugee must sign this letter.

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Qs.6 - What documents should be submitted with an application?

This is not an exhaustive list. Other documents may be requested by our caseworker, if s/he considers it to be necessary in order to complete the examination of an application.

(a) When applying for a husband or wife (spouse), the following should be sent to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2):

Original Birth Certificate for spouse
Original National Identity Card for spouse
Original Passport for spouse
Original Marriage Certificate
Original Divorce Certificate for previous marriage for refugee, (if applicable)
Original Divorce Certificate for previous marriage for spouse, (if applicable)
Original Death Certificate of previous spouse of refugee, (if applicable)
Original Death Certificate of previous spouse of refugee's spouse, (if applicable).

(b) When applying for a child/children (under 18 years and unmarried) the following should be sent to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2):

Original Birth Certificate(s) for child/children that are named on the application
Original National Identity Card for that child/children
Original Passport for that child/children
Current coloured passport-sized photos with the child's name, date of birth and the date on which the photo was taken, written on the back of the photo
Original Statement of Parental Authorisation (i.e. granting permission for the child to travel to Ireland) from other parent who will not be travelling to Ireland with the child.
Original Death Certificate of other parent, (if applicable)
Letter of authorisation from current guardian/carer if child/children are not in the care of his/her parents.

(c) When a refugee (who is under 18 years and unmarried) wishes to apply for his/her parent(s), the following should be sent to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2):

Refugee's original Birth Certificate
Parents' original Birth Certificates
Parents' original National Identity Cards
Parents' original Passports.

(d) When applying for dependent relatives other than those listed above (e.g. father, mother, brother, sister, child, grandparent(s), ward or guardian), the following should be sent to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2):

Original Birth Certificate for each relative on the application
Original National Identity Card for each of those relatives
Original Passport for each of those relatives
Current coloured passport-sized photos with the relative's name, date of birth, and date on which the photo was taken, written on the back of the photo
Original Marriage Certificate of relative, (if applicable)
Original Divorce Certificate of relative, (if applicable)
Original Death Certificate of relative's spouse, (if applicable)
Evidence of custodial rights over family member e.g. adopted or fostered child, (if applicable)
Evidence of financial dependency that the refugee has been and is supporting this family member financially by sending e.g. Money transfer receipts, bank statements, postal order receipts
Evidence of physical and/or mental dependency by sending e.g. detailed medical reports on relative.

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Qs.7 - Requests for original documents to be returned to the refugee

All documents that have been submitted by the refugee are generally retained until the decision has been reached on his/her application. If, however, documents are required by the refugee for a specific reason s/he may request them by giving full details of the reasons in writing (if the application is still under examination here) to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2) or to Family Reunification Unit, Immigration Division, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 if the Section 18 report has been forwarded to them.

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Qs.8 - Can a refugee, who has been granted Irish Citizenship, apply for Family Reunification under Section 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended)?

If the refugee had been granted Irish Citizenship at the time of his/her application, his/her entitlements to apply for Family Reunification under Section 18 have ceased. Applications for Family Reunification from refugees who have been granted Irish Citizenship would not be forwarded by Immigration Division to this Office.

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Qs.9 - How long does an investigation and a Section 18 report take to complete in Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, (Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2)?

Applications are dealt with in chronological order (i.e. by the date that they are received in Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, (Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2). An initial query may be sent to the refugee within five working days of the application being received but due to the complexity of cases and the delays in receiving responses, among other things, it can take up to 3 months at present to complete the process in this Office. If all documents and information can be provided by the refugee at the earliest opportunity, it will facilitate the speedier processing of an application.

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Qs. 10 - How can a refugee receive information on the progress of his/her application in Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner?

A refugee may write to this Office (Family Reunification Unit, Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, Timberlay House, 79-83 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2) and enquire about his/her application and a written response will be sent to him/her on the progress of his/her application within 5 working days of receiving this request

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Qs. 11 - What can a refugee do if s/he receives a negative decision in his/her Family Reunification Application?

The refugee will be informed of the decision in writing by Immigration Division. There is no provision under Section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) to appeal Family Reunification decisions. However, should a refugee have new information that is relevant to the case, s/he should write to Family Reunification Unit, Immigration Division, Dept of Justice Equality & Law Reform, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.

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Qs. 12 - Where can I find the legislation governing Family Reunification?

Section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) Click here to read the Act.

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