The Turkish Association Agreement (TAA) allows family members of Turkish nationals resident in the State under the Agreement to join them in the State, provided certain conditions are met. These conditions are set out in my Department's Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification.
The entitlement of family members of TAA beneficiaries to access the labour market is set out in Article 7 of Decision No. 1/80, which provides that:
Members of the family of a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force of a Member State who have been authorised to join that worker:
• shall, subject to the priority to be given to workers of Member States of the Community, be entitled to respond to any offer of employment after they have been legally resident for at least three years in that Member State;
• shall enjoy free access to any paid employment of their choice, provided they have been legally resident there for at least five years.
Children of Turkish workers who have completed a course of vocational training in the host country may respond to any offer of employment there, irrespective of the length of time they have been resident in that Member State, provided that one of their parents has been legally employed in the Member State concerned for at least three years.
There is no contradiction between Article 7 of Decision No. 1/80 and the practice of granting qualifying family members Stamp 3 immigration permissions. Family members of Turkish Association Agreement beneficiaries receive a Stamp 3 permission endorsed on their Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card and are not entitled to access the labour market until they have accumulated at least three years' legal residence in the State.
Article 13 of Decision No. 1/80 provides that:
The Member States of the Community and Turkey may not introduce new restrictions on the conditions of access to employment applicable to workers and members of their families legally resident and employed in their respective territories.
I can confirm that there has been no change to the immigration permission granted to persons residing in the State under the Turkish Association Agreement, nor to the permission granted to their qualifying family members.
