Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 December 2004
169 Mr. English asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason the spouse and child of a person (details supplied) have been refused visas; if he will review the case again and consider issuing visas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33900/04]
View answerThe visa applications were made in Moscow on 23 August 2004 to enable a wife and child to join a non-EEA national employed in the State under a work permit scheme. In general, persons employed in the State under a work permit scheme may be joined by their spouse and their minor children after the worker has been employed in the State for one year and has been offered a contract of employment for a further year. The worker must also be able to fully support the family members in question without the need to recourse to public funds.
When assessing applications for family reunification the visa officer will consider, among other things, whether the level of salary of the worker would come within the ambit of qualifying for payments from public funds. As the level of the worker's income in the case in question, as evidenced by his payslips and P60, would quality for payments from public funds the applications were refused. The refusals were appealed but the visa appeals officer upheld the decision to refuse the visas.
