Parents of Irish citizens coming to Ireland?

man1

Hi, Not sure if this is the right forum?

My wife and I live in Ireland and we want our parents to come and live with us in about 2 years. They are both elderly and we want to look after them in our home. They are from the Ukraine.
My wife and I are both Irish passport carrying citizens (my wife for 5 years and myself since birth) and I am having difficulty with the justice and dept foreign affairs website and office. They are unbelieveably unhelpful, rude, ignorant and borderline racist. When my wife (who has a slight eastern european accent) called they were so rude, said they couldnt help her and there was no way our parents could live here. When I called one minute later to the same person it was amazing the difference in the tone of the conversation (even though they still didnt know anything, they were not rude ). She had to put me on hold each time I asked a question, obviously to ask someone advice. I even think she was american which made me even madder. They havent a clue there.
I have called the office at stephens green once and three times at burgh quay and 2 times they were not sure but said the info would be on the website , 1 time a person said its not allowed as they are not eu citizens and the other time the person said it is allowed and the form is on www.dfa.ie. We cant find any info anywhere on either website. It is so confusing and we dont know who to call.
I know it is possible as I have heard of american and japanese irish citizens who have brought their parents here to live with them. When I said this to them they said that is different. When I asked why, they couldnt answer me.

I also asked them about a multi entry visa for this year for 12 months for them as they will be visiting their new grandchildren 3 or 4 times this year. One of them said they would have to get a new visa each time and pay for it each time and travel 12 hours on train to the irish embassy in Kiev every time they wanted a new visa. Another said they could get a multi entry visa from Kiev and it would be sent to moscow from kiev and it would last for a year and it would be free as we are irish citizens. Another said we could arrange it from here for them. They all kept saying " oh that other person is wrong". It is so frustrating.

I know all about the issues with the so-called non-nationals (i dont know why they are called that?) coming here and getting pregnant so they can stay here with their Irish citizen baby. That discussion is for another day. Anywhere I looked for info on the web about my situation it just kept referring to this situation of parents of irish born children. I know there was a referendum about it too. I cant find anything about my situation which is different, I think?

Maybe someone is in or has been in the same situation as me and could share their views and experience's with me.

Or maybe someone knows the correct law regarding this and where I could find the forms or whatever I need.

haz

man1 wrote:

we want our parents to come and live with us in about 2 years. They are both elderly and we want to look after them in our home. They are from the Ukraine.

I don't know the answer, but it would be worth contacting refugee advocacy groups because they are familiar with the nationality issues (i.e. not EU). You could try the Refugee Council http://www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie/, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism http://www.nccri.ie/, the Refugee Information Service http://www.ris.ie/ or the (government) Refugee Applications Commissioner http://www.orac.ie/ which have plenty of online and brochure guides. I've seen most of the documents (we're a three-nationality family with Irish children) and can not think of anything directly relevant. I think the Department of Foreign Affairs were directing you to the completely uninformative one side visa application form at http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=8778.

As none of you are refugees you are not eligible for the Family Reunification Scheme (which is about the closest I can think of), but if you are able to financially support your parents in all their needs then there should be no difficulty. The harsh reality is that your application will be assessed pretty much only on your financial status.

KerranJast

I wouldn't be one to normally advocate law breaking but this seems like a genuine humanitarian case. Could they not just come over on a holiday and do an "Irish in the USA" trick on it?

ilovelamp2000

KerranJast wrote:

I wouldn't be one to normally advocate law breaking but this seems like a genuine humanitarian case. Could they not just come over on a holiday and do an "Irish in the USA" trick on it?

They could do that quite easily, if they ever get discovered they could seek asylum.

The process is still taking up to a couple of years, they could voluntarily be deported back to the Ukraine then.

man1

How can the dept of foreign affairs be so unhelpful an not know anything about the subject?
Did anyone else have a bad experience with them?
I think I might go to my local TD and get him to find out, with an election coming up he might bother his arse!
Hope someone can help me.....