Can Irish citizen sponsor non-EEA step-child

I am an Irish citizen recently married to a non-EEA national. We would like to have my wife's 9 year old from a previous marriage join us in Ireland permanently. I am confused as to whether I am eligible to sponsor her or not.

If I am not eligible then I am concerned that my wife will not meet the financial threshold for a successful application.

Thanks

Short answer - no.

A bit longer answer - yes if you officially adopt the child.

Longer explanation - the Family Reunification Policy provides reunification for the immediate family for eligible sponsors.

You are an eligible sponsor for your nuclear family, i.e. your wife, but not her child as you have no connection to her child. Of course you will need to demonstrate that you satisfy other requirements, such as the required minimum salary.

Once she is in the state and registered, she can get a Stamp 4, which will make her be an eligible sponsor for her nuclear family, i.e. her child. She will need to demonstrate that she meets the minimum salary requirement as set out in the policy. At that time, if you have shared accounts for your earnings, it shouldn’t be a big blocker. However, this separate process means her child won’t be able to see her for at least a year or so, during the application process.

BTW depending on her child’s custody rights and her country’s laws, you and she may also need an affidavit from the child’s biological father in order to move the child to Ireland.

Thanks for your response. My wife has recently received her stamp 4. She has just started a job here, but because she was a student till now, she won't be able to show much in the way of earnings for the last three years, and her salary now is relatively low.

littlerr wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 18, 2020 9:19 am

Short answer - no.

A bit longer answer - yes if you officially adopt the child.

Longer explanation - the Family Reunification Policy provides reunification for the immediate family for eligible sponsors.

You are an eligible sponsor for your nuclear family, i.e. your wife, but not her child as you have no connection to her child. Of course you will need to demonstrate that you satisfy other requirements, such as the required minimum salary.

Once she is in the state and registered, she can get a Stamp 4, which will make her be an eligible sponsor for her nuclear family, i.e. her child. She will need to demonstrate that she meets the minimum salary requirement as set out in the policy. At that time, if you have shared accounts for your earnings, it shouldn’t be a big blocker. However, this separate process means her child won’t be able to see her for at least a year or so, during the application process.

BTW depending on her child’s custody rights and her country’s laws, you and she may also need an affidavit from the child’s biological father in order to move the child to Ireland.

Is this the case even if the family is from a non-visa required country? I can't imagine any mother wanted to be separated from her child for that length of time. Brutal!

DanaMarie wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:53 pm

Is this the case even if the family is from a non-visa required country? I can't imagine any mother wanted to be separated from her child for that length of time. Brutal!

Well the policy is there unfortunately. It doesn't really differ between visa and non-visa required nationals.

As a non-EU national sponsor, he/she must be in a certain number of categories (e.g. critical skills employment permit holders, business permissions, PhD students etc) in order to avail of the immediate family reunification. Each category will have its own criteria on minimum salaries etc.

The policy also states that such family members can come to Ireland with the sponsor at the same time (if no visa is required).

All other non-EU national sponsors (e.g. a Stamp 4 based on an Irish sponsor, or general employment permit holders etc) will have to wait for 12 months before their family can join. Section 17.6 says such sponsors will need to maintain a gross salary of 30K for each of the two previous years.

Section 16.5 has a very general clause there: Exceptions would only be made on humanitarian grounds.

I haven't heard of anyone in the same situation personally, so I can't really comment on whether it is a valid humanitarian ground that the family reunification can be granted based on. My own feeling is that INIS cares more about the financial situation - if the OP can prove that they have more than sufficient financial means to support the child, and that they will for sure not use any state funds / social welfare funds, they may have a chance, but again that's not in the official policy document and I don't want to mislead the OP.

My husband, son (my husband's stepson) and I recently moved to Ireland from South Africa. As my own Irish passport was delayed, my son and I entered on our South African passports, as my husband's dependants (we all entered the country at the same time) with no issues. As far as I am aware, there is only an issue if the minor child is over the age of 16.