irish baby living abroad, unsupportive father

castawaymum

Hi I am a non eu citizen with an irish child. My daughter is almost two years old now, she was born in Ireland and got her irish ciitizenship after her father's name appeared in her birth certificate. I decided to leave ireland with my daughter as there was no way I can get extension for my visa before my daughter got her Irish passport. Her father had stopped depositing money in my irish bank account since last October 2012 informing me that he lost his job and so on. We did not settle things in court regarding child support because there really was no time, his mum had me book our plane tickets already so I had no way of changing my mind about going back to my country since she was the one paying for it, if I change my mind I might not be able to survive with a newborn child and no means of earning any money and she might change her mind too about paying for the plane tickets.

My daughter has been stricken with pneumonia. She has been hospitalized twice already and I had to bring her back and forth the GP everytime she starts coughing. My country does not have a good health program so I had to pay up all her medications. Even if I earn above the basic salary, it is still not enough. I had already asked her father to deposit just 20 euros every week to help out with the medical bills but unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.

Sighting that my daughter is in fact an Irish citizen, is there a way that she gets child benefits from the Irish government eventhough she is living abroad? If I could not get her father to help her maybe there is another way.

ResearchWill

Would it not be easier for you and your daughter to move back to ireland. As you have a right to live and work here based on her.

castawaymum

I would like that, if only I can afford to pay the plane tickets. Also basing on my research, it would not be easy for me to go back because I need to apply for a tourist visa first before I'd be granted the right to live and work in Ireland. There's a lot of money involved just to go back there, right now I don't have any savings because all my earnings are spent on daily needs and medicines.

guttenberg

Can I ask what country your in now? (the visa situation could be sorted before you get here depending on where you are etc.) Have you fully checked out what(if any) welfare is available to single parents in your area?

castawaymum

My daughter and I are in the Philippines. We do have some single parent benefits but they are very basic, no allowances whatsoever. The last time I paid for my visa when I went there in Ireland was around 200 euros, one way plane ticket for myself alone cost around minimum 800 euros. It took me 4 years to save up those money to volunteer in Ireland in the hopes of getting a better career so yeah with a sickly child, going back there would be a miracle.

ResearchWill

castawaymum wrote: »

I would like that, if only I can afford to pay the plane tickets. Also basing on my research, it would not be easy for me to go back because I need to apply for a tourist visa first before I'd be granted the right to live and work in Ireland. There's a lot of money involved just to go back there, right now I don't have any savings because all my earnings are spent on daily needs and medicines.

You should contact the embassy or INIS re a Zambrano application.

castawaymum

The thing is, even if I want to, I can't go back there. That's why I am asking help from anyone who has information if there is a way that my child can get some benefits from the Irish government even if she is living abroad to help me finance her medications since her father would not help.

guttenberg

castawaymum wrote: »

The thing is, even if I want to, I can't go back there. That's why I am asking help from anyone who has information if there is a way that my child can get some benefits from the Irish government even if she is living abroad to help me finance her medications since her father would not help.

I think there is a prerequisite for the child to live in Ireland to qualify for any/all welfare here, I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done to force child payments from a father living in a different jurisdiction, you'd likely need to consult a legal expert on that.

strandroad

Can the father claim child benefit for her to be deposited in your account? He won't be out of pocket then.

XrayMike235

guttenberg wrote: »

I think there is a prerequisite for the child to live in Ireland to qualify for any/all welfare here,

The child does not have to live in Ireland to qualify for welfare. EU nationals working here and paying tax are entitled to collect childrens allowance, even if their children are back in their home country. They pay their taxes here and are entitled to the benefits. I don't know what the situation is for children outside the EU, suspect it might be different.

Janey_Mac

Try contacting the Irish embassy in the Phillippines as your daughter is an Irish citizen.

The Irtish Consulate there is at:
Address: 70 Jupiter Street Bel-Air I, Makati, Philippines
Phone:+63 2 896 4668

The Phillippines is represented by the Singapore embassy:
Embassy of Ireland
Ireland House
541 Orchard Road
#08-00 Liat Towers
Singapore 238881
PH: +65 6238 7616
Fax:+65 6238 7615
Opening hours are:
9:30–12:00 & 14:30 16:30, Monday to Friday.