Non-EEA family reunification: joining an Irish national

Conditions you must meet

• Each family category is a separate application with different conditionsSpouse, civil partner, de facto partner, minor child, dependent parent and dependent adult child are six routes, not one. ISD's per-category pages are rendered client-side and cannot be read by VisaAI, so their conditions are not in this registry — use ISD's own pages for them.

  Different family members can apply to join an Irish national, including spouse, civil partner, de facto partner, minor child, dependent parent and dependent adult child (Only where they are dependent on the care of the parent sponsor for their subsistence due to a serious medical or psychological condition that makes independent life unsustainable). There is a separate application for each category of applicant and different conditions will apply.

• Outside the nuclear family, a dependent parent or a dependent adult child, you are generally not eligibleStated flatly by ISD. The exception is exceptional circumstances under section 13 of the policy document — a discretion, not a route.

  If you are not a nuclear family member, dependent parent or dependent adult child of an Irish national you will generally not be eligible for family reunification. However, you may apply where exceptional circumstances arise, see Section 13 of the Policy document.

• A dependent adult child qualifies only on a serious medical or psychological conditionNot financial dependency: ISD requires a condition that makes independent life unsustainable. A financially supported adult child does not qualify on that basis.

  If you are the adult child over the age of 18 of an Irish national parent and you are dependent on the care of that parent for your subsistence due to a serious medical or psychological condition that makes independent life unsustainable, please note there are additional qualifying conditions and there is a higher minimum financial threshold.

• The sponsor takes full financial responsibility; the State will not subsidise the familyThe principle every figure below follows from, in ISD's own words.

  The sponsor must assume full financial responsibility for the family member they are seeking to bring to reside in Ireland with them. The State does not have an obligation to subsidise the family concerned and the sponsor must show evidence that they can provide for their family members if they are permitted to enter and reside in Ireland.

• The sponsor must not have relied mainly on State supports for two years or more before applyingA bar in its own right, independent of the income tables, and it looks back two continuous years.

  All sponsors must not have been mainly reliant on State supports from the Irish State for a continuous period of two years or longer immediately prior to application.

• Only ONE sponsor's income counts — incomes cannot be combinedTHE RULE MOST LIKELY TO SINK AN OTHERWISE-COMFORTABLE HOUSEHOLD. A couple earning EUR 40,000 each does not meet a EUR 50,200 threshold; one of them must meet it alone.

  only the income of one sponsor will be considered, so you cannot combine your salary with that of your spouse, partner or any other family member to reach these thresholds.

• Category A sponsor (e.g. Irish citizen): EUR 75,000 gross cumulative over the three years before applyingEUR 75,000 cumulative grossCumulative, not annual — ISD's own example is EUR 25,000 a year for three years — and above any State benefits, with the expectation it will be maintained. The same test covers unmarried minor children.

  Category A sponsors (e.g. Irish citizens) must have earned a gross income over and above any State benefits of not less than €75,000, cumulative, over the three-year period prior to application (e.g. €25,000 per year over three years), with the expectation that this level of income will be maintained.

• Category C sponsor (e.g. general employment permit holder): over EUR 30,000 gross in the previous yearEUR 30,000 minimum gross previous yearA single-year test rather than a three-year cumulative one — a different shape of requirement for the same family relationship, decided entirely by the sponsor's permission type.

  Category C sponsors (e.g. General Employment Permit holder) must have a gross income in excess of €30,000 in the previous year, with the expectation that this level of income will be maintained.

• Category C sponsoring minor children: EUR 39,780 net (≈EUR 50,200 gross) for one child, rising to EUR 79,664 net for eight or moreEUR 39,780 net 1 child · EUR 45,032 net 2 children · EUR 50,284 net 3 children · EUR 55,016 net 4 children · EUR 61,568 net 5 children · EUR 67,600 net 6 children · EUR 74,672 net 7 children · EUR 79,664 net 8 plus childrenThe binding figure is NET, and ISD gives the gross equivalents only as indicative — a job offer quoting gross is not directly comparable. Based on the Department of Social Protection's 2026 Working Family Payment limits.

  Number of Children Minimum Annual Net Salary Required (2026)[1] Indicative Annual Gross Salary Equivalent (2026) 1 Child €39,780 €50,200 2 Children €45,032 €60,200 3 Children €50,284 €70,100 4 Children €55,016 €80,000 5 Children €61,568 €93,700 6 Children €67,600 €106,300 7 Children €74,672 €121,100 8+ Children €79,664 €131,600

• Any sponsor bringing dependent adult relatives: EUR 96,929 gross for one, EUR 130,985 for two, EUR 165,042 for threeEUR 96,929 gross 1 adult · EUR 130,985 gross 2 adults · EUR 165,042 gross 3 adultsTHE HIGHEST THRESHOLD IN THIS REGISTRY, and it applies to Category A, B and C alike — earned IN IRELAND, in each of the three years. Based on CSO average earnings for Q2 2025.

  Number of Dependent Adult Relatives Minimum Annual Gross Salary Required (2026)[2] 1 Adult €96,929 2 Adults €130,985 3 Adults €165,042

• Which category you are in is decided by your immigration permission, not your family relationshipA: Irish nationals. B: critical-skills permit holders, intra-company transferees, non-locum doctors, researchers on hosting agreements, IIP investors, STEP entrepreneurs, certain students and ministers of religion. C: general and reactivation employment permit holders and independent Stamp 4 holders.

  Category A: Irish nationals Category B: Critical Skills Employment Permit (CSEP) holders, Intra-company transferees, Full-time non-locum doctors in employment, Researchers on Hosting Agreements, Investors on the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), Entrepreneurs on the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme (STEP), ISD-approved scholarship programme students (e.g. KASP), PhD student permission holders (subject to additional conditions), Ministers of Religion under the relevant scheme (subject to additional conditions).

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

• Category B sponsors: no figure is published — the status is taken to assume the incomeRecorded because its ABSENCE is the fact. ISD publishes no number for critical-skills permit holders, researchers, investors and the rest of Category B, and none is invented here.

  For Category B sponsors (e.g. Critical Skills Employment Permit holder or researcher), the immigration status granted assumes certain levels of income either immediately or in the future or on the basis that the sponsor falls into a category whose migration to Ireland is promoted as part of Government policy.