Ireland family reunification visa (join a non-EEA family member)

Category B sponsors can be joined immediately by their nuclear family: Critical Skills Employment Permit holders, intra-company transferees, full-time non-locum doctors, researchers on hosting agreements, STEP entrepreneurs and Immigrant Investor Programme investors, ISD-approved scholarship and PhD students (with conditions) and ministers of religion under the scheme.

Category C sponsors, mainly General Employment Permit and Reactivation permit holders and independent Stamp 4 holders not covered above, can apply after 12 months of lawful work. Students (other than those in Category B), Third Level Graduate Programme graduates, beneficiaries of temporary protection and UK or EU nationals cannot sponsor under this policy.

Marriages and civil partnerships must be recognisable under Irish law. If the sponsor moved to Ireland before the marriage and you have not lived together since, give a full relationship history; a relationship built only online or by phone is not enough, and face-to-face meetings must be shown. A de facto partnership requires at least two years of cohabitation, an exclusive relationship and both partners aged 18 or over.

For children from an earlier relationship, provide a court order on custody or a sworn consent from the other parent.

Since 12 June 2026 Category C sponsors must show suitable accommodation for the family without public funds. For rented homes this means the Residential Tenancies Board registration letter and an ACCOM1 form signed by the landlord and sponsor; owners give proof of ownership and a description of rooms and occupants. Where children are involved, no unrelated adults may live there. The decision-maker may request this later; failing to provide it within 6 months can lead to refusal.

Civil documents issued outside the EEA must be apostilled by the issuing authority, and translations done outside the EEA must also be apostilled.

Category C sponsors need gross income above €30,000 in the previous year to bring a spouse or partner. To bring minor children they must exceed the net income figures based on the Working Family Payment limits: €39,780 net (indicatively €50,200 gross) for one child, €45,032 net (€60,200 gross) for two and €50,284 net (€70,100 gross) for three. Only one sponsor’s income counts.

Dependent parents or adult children with serious medical conditions need the sponsor to earn at least €96,929 gross for one person, €130,985 for two and €165,042 for three, in each of the previous three years. No sponsor may have been mainly reliant on State supports for two years or more before applying.

Register within 90 days at Burgh Quay. Your permission depends on the sponsor continuing to live in Ireland lawfully. After 5 years, or when the sponsor becomes an Irish citizen, you can ask for an independent Stamp 4. After a divorce or separation, a change of status is possible if the relationship lasted at least 3 years, the last 2 of them in Ireland; such changes must be notified to ISD within 21 working days.

A refused join family visa can be appealed in writing; the appeal must reach ISD within 2 calendar months of the decision and should answer the refusal reasons with new documentary evidence. The appeals officer can confirm the refusal, grant the visa or set conditions; that decision is final, but you may apply again if circumstances change. Appeals are not possible where false or misleading documents were found.