Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
427. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current processing times for family reunification applications under the International Protection Act 2015; the number of applications processing for over two, three and four years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15795/26]
View answerFamily Reunification as provided for in Section 56 of the International Protection Act 2015, allows people granted international Protection status to apply for certain family members to join them in the State. Currently, an application for IP-FRU must be made by the sponsor within 12 months of them being granted an International Protection permission.
I can inform the Deputy that the median processing time for applications on which decisions were made in 2025 was approximately 20 months.
The requested statistics on the processing applications is provided in the below table.
Table 1: Breakdown of International Protection family reunification applications on hand
|
Applications |
Number of Applications |
|
Received more than 2 but less than 3 years ago. |
384 |
|
Received more than 3 but less than 4 years ago. |
80 |
|
Received more than 4 years ago. |
91 |
It should be noted that no two applications are the same and processing times can vary depending on the nature of the application, the documentation supplied, and the detailed and often complex assessment that is required to be carried out on such applications. Where applications remain open for protected periods this is predominantly due to factors outside of the Department's control; applicants frequently request that their applications are kept open as they seek more time to locate documents or the family members they wish to bring to the State.
