Visa help

[MaryellenIreland]

I am an Irish Citizen with a 5 year old son. My husband is not his biological father though has lived with and help raise him the past 4 years.
My husband is from Albania.
When we met he was applying for permission to remain through the asylum process.
We got married in December and he returned to albania to apply for visa. The application was received in Dublin in early January.
We have heard nothing at all from his application.
I have emailed numerous of times and also got my local TD involved as my son is heartbroken to be separated for so long. The response is that they have received application and it is awaiting review.
Does anyone know if long stay type D visa for spouse of Irish citizen are being processed again? I have asked the INIS several times but they do not answer my question directly and send a generic email response.
Is there any way I could have them look at my application as a priority due to a child being involved?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

[littlerr]

A straightforward join-family visa needs about 6 months to process, so even without Covid-19, the application may only be processed now. Having a child will not make the process faster (at least officially).

This adds to the fact that your husband had an asylum application, he is not the biological father of the child, and finally we have a pandemic that resulted in a much reduced workforce everywhere, you might have to wait a bit longer.

You can certainly try to involve your TD again and ask them to submit a parliamentary question (which I suppose you have done already). You can even email the Minister of Justice herself. Good luck!

[Granista]

Is there any way I could have them look at my application as a priority due to a child being involved?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

'

No. Most of the people applying for join spouse have children involved, your application can't jump over them.

As pp stated, even if it was the easiest application ever, it still would not be done by now, as none of these were processed the last few months. And it is far from a simple case. I would not expect an outcome in the next six months.

Your TD can' affect it either.

[MaryellenIreland]

A straightforward join-family visa needs about 6 months to process, so even without Covid-19, the application may only be processed now. Having a child will not make the process faster (at least officially).

This adds to the fact that your husband had an asylum application, he is not the biological father of the child, and finally we have a pandemic that resulted in a much reduced workforce everywhere, you might have to wait a bit longer.

You can certainly try to involve your TD again and ask them to submit a parliamentary question (which I suppose you have done already). You can even email the Minister of Justice herself. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your reply. We are not familiar with this process and don't know anyone who had previously been through it so did not know if the 6 month guideline was a good indicator of how long it would be.

[MaryellenIreland]

Hi would anyone have any advice please.
I applied for a visa for my husband in January received in Dublin on 28 January.
Inis have updated their website today that they are processing applications from before 25 February 2020.
My application still has not been processed is this normal?
Also wondering if it is required to have an interview before visa is issued, my husband is from Albania. We are together 4 years and gave everything necessary for visa.

[Granista]

The date means that they are processing applications that came after yours. but that doesn't mean that yours will necessarily be finished, as its a complicated case.
What happened with his asylum claim? what permission to reside did he have before he went back to Albania?
Once he has made a dodgy asylum claim his chance of getting a spouse visa is significantly lower.

[MaryellenIreland]

He was appealing his refusal for asulym, but voluntarily left the country before anything came of it. He informed the INIS and they gave passport etc back.
I think it was called humaritrian right to remain he was appealing for.
We were engaged prior to the failed asulym and his solicitor had wrote to the department and informed them.

[littlerr]

It is kind of expected that his application will take significantly longer to process then. Humanitarian leave to remain is the last resort for a person who has been refused residence on all grounds, including asylum claims. This could mean that the minister thinks the person has already made a false asylum claim. Then he came up with a Join Family visa request, so you can imagine there is going to be a considerable amount of suspicion there.

[Granista]

He was refused aslyum, was appealing, and then conveniently acquired an Irish spouse, and in order to get that visa he went back to Albania, thereby proving that he was in no need of asylum.

I wouldn't be expecting a positive decision on the join spouse visa if I were you.

[MaryellenIreland]

Thank you all so much for the replies