Conference abstract
This conference provided an opportunity to exchange information on family reunification schemes in Ireland and abroad.
Family reunification promotes the integration of migrants already in the host country and can be an important route to safety for the family members of refugees. Family migration is diverse in character but often closely linked to labour migration.
Speakers from: OECD; UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency; and the International Organization for Migration provided the international context. Drawing on the findings of a recently published European Migration Network study, the family reunification policy frameworks in place elsewhere in the EU was discussed and compared. Insights on the family reunification system operational in Ireland was provided by responsible authorities and I/NGOs working in this area.
Download conference programme.
View conference summary.
See also recent EMN Ireland report on Family reunification of non-EU nationals in Ireland.
Presentations
Session 1: International context
- An overview of family migration in OECD countries: scale and characteristics – Jonathan Chaloff, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Migrant family reunification at IOM: Programme solutions – Patrick Corcoran, International Organization for Migration. View IOM video.
- Refugee family reunification – Daniela Cicchella, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (no slides)
Session 2: Family reunification law and policy in the EU Member States
- Family reunification of non-EU nationals: Ireland in an EU context – Samantha Arnold, EMN Ireland, Economic and Social Research Institute
- Family reunification of third-country nationals in the Netherlands – Hans Lemmens, EMN NCP and Immigration and Naturalisation Service, Ministry of Security and Justice, Netherlands
- Family reunification of beneficiaries of International Protection in France – Julie Wington, Direction de l’immigration, Direction Générale des étrangers en France Ministère de l’Intérieur (General Directorate for Foreign Nationals in France, Ministry of the Interior)
Session 3: Family reunification in Ireland
- International Protection and family reunification in Ireland – Brian Merriman, Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service
- Family reunification – A view from the coalface – Fiona Hurley, Nasc: The Irish Immigrant Support Centre
- The Travel Assistance Programme – Effective access to family reunification – Susan McMonagle, UNHCR Ireland
