The Department of Justice has announced that essential family reunification is one of two new categories being added to the priority list of visas currently being processed.
Applications will also be accepted from people who are travelling for essential business or employment purposes and have received an employment permit from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
People seeking to join family members will include all Long Stay ‘D’ Visa joinfamily applications (including third country national family members of Irish nationals and persons exercising free movement under the EU Directive), and Preclearance applications for; De Facto Partners of an Irish National; De Facto Partners of a Critical Skills Employment Permit Holder, or of a non-EEA Researcher on a Hosting Agreement; and non-EEA family members seeking to join a UK National in Ireland.
The acceptance of new visa applications, except for priority or emergency applications, was temporarily suspended on 29 January 2021. The framework for the restrictive travel measures is set out in the Government’s Resilience and Recovery: Plan for Living with COVID-19.
For more information, see:
Department of Justice press release
Immigrant Council of Ireland press release
