The Irish Government introduced new rules on family reunification for refugees and subsidiary protection holders.

The new rules were introduced as part of the International Protection Act 2026, which started on June 12th 2026.

Any applications for family reunification which are triggered on or after June 12th will be assessed under the new rules.

The new rules are mainly more restrictive than the previous rules.

My Family Members are outside of Ireland

A refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection can apply for certain family members who are abroad under Section 205 of the 2026 Act.

The familial relationship must have existed before the sponsor arrived to Ireland.

When can I apply?

You must wait 2 years from the date of your grant of international protection (Ministerial Letter) before they can start the application.

What are the financial requirements?

When assessing your application, the Minister will consider if you have “sufficient resources” to support yourself and your family members. To determine this, the Minister will look at 3 things:

1. Whether you are earning a "minimum level of income"
   1. This would be annual income of at least €30,000 if applying for a spouse, civil partner or defacto partner.
   2. This would be an annual income of at least €50,000 if applying for 1 minor child, €60,000 for 2 children etc
2. Whether you are receiving certain social welfare payments, or have received them in the past 2 years. This could prohibit you from applying for family reunification
3. Whether you are receiving certain housing supports from the State, or have received them in the past 2 years . This could prohibit someone from applying for FR.
4. Lastly, whether you owe money to IPAS for your accommodation/reception (12 weeks or more). In this case, you could enter into a repayment arrangement with the State and FR may be granted.

The Minister has discretion to waive the social welfare and housing support requirements where you received the supports for less than 6 months total in the proceeding 2 year period.

What family members can I apply for?

As an adult who has refugee status or subsidiary protection, you can apply for:

• a spouse or civil partner
• a de facto partner
  • This would involve showing that you lived together with your partner in an "intimate and committed relationship" and that your relationship is stable and continuing. See the full criteria here
• a minor child
• an adult child but would have to show long term dependency or a disability
• a parent but would have to show long term dependency or a disability

Family members who are already in Ireland

A refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection can apply for certain family members who are already in Ireland under Section 204 of the 2026 Act.

The family members must be in Ireland on the date of the FR application. They can be in Ireland “lawfully or unlawfully.”

This application must be made within 12 months of the grant of international protection.

In this section, the Minister “shall” grant FR where the Minister is satisfied that the person is a family member of the sponsor.

The Minister retains discretion to refuse an application “in the interest of national security or public policy.”

In this section, “family member” means:

What family members can I apply for?

As an adult who has refugee status or subsidiary protection, you can apply for:

• your spouse or civil partner
• Your minor or adult dependent children (they must be unmarried)

The familial relationship started in Ireland, can I still for family reunification?

You cannot apply for such family members under the 2026 Act however they may be another pathway you can investigate.

Non-EEA residents in Ireland can apply for family members to reside with them in Ireland. This is considered under the Non-EEA policy document. This document was revised on the 12 June 2026.

Under the revised document, beneficiaries of refugee status and subsidiary protection can only apply for family members where the relationship began after the sponsor’s entry to Ireland.