Tag Archive for: IRISH RESIDENCY

Updates Regarding Residency Applications for Parents to EU Citizen Children

Updates Regarding Residency Applications for Parents to EU Citizen Children

The Department of Justice has now published a policy on the application procedures for parents of EU citizen children applying for residence in the State. The department has created two distinct forms to be requested and filled out by such applicants.

As a non-EEA national in Ireland, you may be eligible to apply for a right of residence based on Article 20 of the TFEU and the Judgments of the Court of the EU in three cases; Kunqian Catherine Zhu, Man Lavette Chen, -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case C-200/02), London Borough of Harrow -v- Nimco Hassan Ibrahim and Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case C-310/08), and Maria Teixeira -v- London Borough of Lambeth and Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case C-480/08).

The Department of Justice have created two application forms on the basis of the Chen and Ibrahim/Teixeira judgments.

In order to be eligible to apply for permission to reside in Ireland under the Chen judgment, you must:

  • Be a non-EU national, resident in Ireland
  • Be the primary carer of an EU citizen child who is residing in the State or the minor sibling of an EU citizen child whose primary carer is the same primary carer as the EU citizen child
  • Hold comprehensive medical insurance and sufficient resources so as not to be a burden on the State

The EU Citizen child must be under the age of 18, and be a resident of any EU member state, excluding Ireland.

 

To be eligible to apply for residency permission under the Ibrahim/Teixeira, you must be the parent or primary carer of a child of an EU national who woks or has previously worked in Ireland. This child must be enrolled in full time education in the State.

You may also be eligible to apply for residency permission under this judgment where you are the non-EU national child of an EU national who works or has worked in Ireland and is engaged in full time education in Ireland.

Additionally, the following conditions must be met;

  • You entered the State when the EU National parent was exercising their rights in the State
  • You are currently resident in the State
  • You have comprehensive medical insurance
  • You have sufficient resources for yourself and any dependents living in Ireland so as not to be a burden on the State
  • You are the primary carer of the EU citizen child
  • The EU citizen child is under the age of 18
  • The EU citizen child is a citizen of an EU member state, excluding Ireland
  • The EU citizen child is resident in the State

For more information on this new application procedure, please see the link below:

EU Treaty Rights – Immigration Service Delivery

If you have any queries relating to this article, please contact Berkeley Solicitors to arrange a consultation with one of our experienced legal advisors.

This blog article has been prepared on the basis of current immigration law and policy, which is subject to change. Please keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page where articles relating to updates and changes in immigration law and policy are regularly posted.

UPDATES REGARDING REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS FOR MINORS

CURRENT EXPERIENCES OF THE IMMIGRATION SERVICE DELIVERY PORTALS

In 2023, the Minister opened the Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) Forms Portal. This portal provides applicants with an opportunity to submit a number of immigration applications to the Minister. This includes an application for renewal of immigration registration, an application for naturalisation for adults and minors and other specific immigration applications including de facto partner applications and applications for extension of student permissions.

In October 2024, the Minister also launched a separate portal, “The Digital Contact Centre”. It appears that the purpose of this portal is for persons to communicate with the Minister in respect of their applications, immigration concerns. However, a number of specific immigration applications are also submitted via this portal, including an application for first time registration and also applications as the parent or spouse of an Irish citizen.

The modernisation of ISD is to be warmly welcomed.

Any progress that can make the immigration system more accessible and easier to navigate for applicants is to be commended and supported.

Applicants are facing a number of issues with these portals as they currently operate.

One of the main issues with the ISD forms portal that are clients are informing us of and we are experiencing ourselves is as follows:

Once an application is submitted via the ISD forms portal, it can no longer be accessed or updated. It is possible to log in and see the data entered, however it is not possible to have sight of the documents uploaded or to amend the application in any way.

When the application is being assessed, the ISD may write to an applicant and ask for further information and documents. If this occurs, the portal application is “re-opened” and access is given to upload the further documents and or information. In many cases this system works smoothly and the documents are uploaded and submitted. However, in many cases , this creates a concerning issue with the application.

If a person needs more time to submit the required documents, perhaps documents need to be requested from other state departments and so on, there is no facility to request an extension of time.

In our experience the portal request closes after a set period of time (sometimes unknown to the applicant) , with no further notice and it is no longer possible to update the application and provide the documents requested.

Very recently, the ISD have stopped operating the email address for the Citizenship unit, which has been the main channel of communication between ISD and applicants  for many years.

Applicants therefore would have no option but to send a letter by post to citizenship or to instruct a solicitor to assist them with the predicament they find themselves in.

Our office has experienced difficulties with submitting further documents, vital to a citizenship application or indeed specifically requested, via post. We have received many responses from ISD  with a direction that documents can only be submitted via the portal- This is not workable if the portal in question has not been reopened .

The move to a portal system is a big change for all parties in this process- applicants, solicitors and the  ISD.

It should be recognised that this is changing and evolving time and applicants should be assisted and facilitated in navigating this new system and there should be a recognition by ISD that this system is in its infancy.

Applicants should not be put at risk that their application might be refused, rejected or deemed ineligible when they have made best efforts to submit a comprehensive application and have tried their upmost to comply with requests via the new portal system.

No applicant should be put at risk of a rejection in these circumstances.

We also look forward to the creation of a third party portal so that solicitors have  a real way to act for their clients on their immigration  applications and are not relying on interim solutions to use portals that have be established for use by individual applicants and not solicitors.

Berkeley Solicitors through our involvement with the Irish Immigration Lawyers Association, have brought our concerns regarding the issues we are encountering with the portal to the attention of the Department and are engaging with the Department towards seeking to improve the system