Nasc’s Family Reunification Campaign
“Together Again” Reuniting Migrant Families in Ireland

Family Reuninfication CampaignFamily Reunification Campaign - 2007

Introduction

What is Family Reunification?

Family Reunification is a term used to refer to the attempts of family members separated by forced or voluntary
migration to re-unite in a country other than their country of origin.

Why This Campaign?

  • Nasc is running this campaign because we meet many people who have been separated for long periods of time from their families. There is not one “typical” family nor is there a “typical” way in which families become separated.
  • Nasc continues to be shocked by the inhumanity of these situations. Given Ireland’s commitment to human rights, our history of emigration and our current economic stability, we feel that the least we can do as a country is to welcome the families of migrants and refugees who have come to live with us. We are asking the government to ensure that immigration laws and procedures begin to seriously address the issue of reuniting families.
  • Nasc feels that, having seen the pain of separated families, it is time to make the Irish people and their public representatives, aware of the devastating impact of family separation and we would like to make recommendations on how the current situation could easily be changed.

Our Objectives

  • To Persuade Politicians that policies and practices must be changed to promote speedy family reunification.
  • To make the public more aware of the problem of family separation.
  • To draw in individuals and organisations beyond our immediate network and build alliances to reinforce the campaign.

Key Messages

  • Migrants who do not have the right to family reunification in Ireland should be granted this as a human right.
  • People who do have the right to family reunification e.g. people with refugee status, should not have to wait for often 4 years or more to be with their family members. This does not require a change in the law but requires that more resources are put in place to ensure speedy reunification.
  • We would like to see a change in the definition of family members who can benefit from family reunification (e.g. husbands/wifes – that foreign marriages are accepted here, other categories of family member, older children, non-biological children).
  • The current position in relation to the rights of unmarried partners in other countries is considerably out of line with the laws and administrative procedures in many other countries.

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The Key Problems with the Current System

This section highlights just some problematic areas but is by no means exhaustive. For more detail please see “Family Matters” (Immigrant Council of Ireland)

Problem 1: Some Migrants do not have the right to family reunification

We are particularly concerned that those with status based on their Irish Born Child, do not have the right to have their spouse or other children with them in Ireland. People are suffering huge hardship and we ask the government to immediately grant these families, the right to reunite in Ireland.

Problem 2: The Length of Time People Have to Wait to See their Families

People who do have the right to family reunification e.g. people with refugee status, have to wait for years (often 4 years or more) to be with their husbands, wives, children or other family members. A person with refugee status may have already had to wait for at least two years in the asylum system while their application for refugee status was being processed. Once Refugee status is granted they can apply for family reunification but the process is very slow and often takes two years. These delays cause huge distress for people, who have already by definition suffered from persecution in the past.

Irish or EU citizens who are married to Non-EEA Nationals are also affected by these administrative delays. Irish and EEA nationals bringing their spouse to Ireland often have to go through lengthly processes at embassies in the non-EU country in the first place in order to obtain a visa. When they come to Ireland, they have to undergo the same procedure again at the Department of Justice in Ireland. The process can take 4-8 months during which time the spouse has no right to work or social welfare in Ireland.

Problem 3: A Key Common Concern for all Categories is the definition of the family

Current administrative arrangements for considering family reunification are based on the nuclear model of the family (spouse and dependent children) and have little regard for diverse cultural and social norms or the rights and entitlements of individuals with unmarried partners. An additional problem is that for a person with the right to family reunification in Ireland, they can only bring unmarried children under the age of 18. Again this causes distress for all concerned. A refugee with a child over the age of 18 may never see them again.

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Stories of People Living in Cork who are Seeking Family Reunification
(Peoples’ names have been modified in the text at their request)

Monique from Bandon – hasn't seen her husband and son in three years.
Monique arrived in Ireland in October 2003. from Nigeria, where she was married with a young son and working as a lawyer. She left the country over threats related to her work and sought asylum in Ireland. She was also pregnant at the time and her second son, now nearly three, was born a few months later.
Monique was appealing the rejection of her asylum appeal when the government announced that foreign parents of Irish-born children could apply for residency before January 2005. On the application form there was a clause she had to tick recognizing that no further family members had the right to live in Ireland. She says: “We knew (what we were signing), but what could we do?”
Monique hasn't seen her husband and other son, now aged four and a half, in three years. “I miss my son so much. It's not easy,” she says. Now only does she miss them she regrets that her Irish-born son has never met his brother. She keeps in touch with her family by phone and they send her pictures of her little boy, who is very aware that he has a mother somewhere.
Monique says that denying her Irish son the right to have his family around him creates two classes of Irish children – those with the right to a family life and those without. She doesn't even want to contemplate what she will do if the government doesn't one day grant them the right to family reunification. “I pray that they will allow family reunification. If my family is here, we can plan,” she says.

Lillian from Grange – hasn't seen her daughter in four years.
Lillian arrived in Ireland in July 2002 from the Ivory Coast., fleeing social problems. She was pregnant at the time with her youngest daughter and applied for asylum, for which she got approval in March 2003. Six months later, she applied for family reunification for her three children back in Ivory Coast. In October 2004, the Department of Justice gave approval for two of the three children – two teenage sons - to live in Ireland, but turned down her request for her eldest daughter, who had turned 18 since she applied.
Lillian has not seen her first-born in over four years. Sara (not her real name) in now nearly 21 but is still in full-time education and financially dependent on her parents. Her father is very sick and content to let her to go live with her mother. Lillian can't understand why age was a criteria for her daughter but not herself.
Lillian’s eldest son, particularly misses his big sister, who looked after him like a mother when Lillian left for Ireland.
Danielle (not her real name), now 4, has also never seen her sister, although the two speak by phone. “It's very painful for me. Sometimes I stay awake until 2 or 3 at night thinking about her,” says Lillian. “I've got everything here, I've got a partner, my children, documents and I live well, but one part of the picture is missing.”

Pierre from Blackpool hasn’t seen his wife and daughter in two years
“I was waiting for two years and was delighted to be granted refugee status by the Irish Government. It gave me new hope, especially when I heard my wife and child could come. But another 15 months later... the system is so slow... she’s still not with me... I hope we will live as a family again. I’m beginning to think we may never meet again.”

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