Mr. Brian Killoran:

The overarching issue is dependency as a principle within the immigration system. Under family reunification, a person comes in and is joining somebody else. However, they are dependent on that person. There has been a campaign by a group called Stamp 3 Ireland about their rights to work as dependent spouses of, for example, holders of work permits. It does not make sense to have somebody dependent on somebody else for all that time for no reason.

In other countries, for example, Canada, I believe that after 12 months of family reunification, people are issued with their own independent immigration status. I may not be 100% correct that it is Canada. However, there are international examples whereby somebody joined as a family member. While they are taken in on the basis of their relationship, they are also issued with their own independent immigration status after a very short period of time. This is so that they can contribute, so that they can go out and work and study. Forgetting domestic violence circumstances, that issue of dependency is a huge issue in and of itself. This is because we have heard of many instances from professionals within the healthcare system, within IT, within pharmaceuticals and within all these areas in which Ireland is prominent. If they go somewhere else, their spouse can get to work more quickly. If they go somewhere else, their rights to family reunification are better and their spouses’ rights are better. They will therefore leave, and they are going. They are going to other jurisdictions where their rights are better enshrined.

First, the issue of dependency is a way to tackle it in general. Second, the Department will have to retain some element of discretion for unusual circumstances that clearly do not fit criteria. At the same time, 99% of applications that we support to go in under these kinds of guidelines come back with an independent immigration status for the individual. A more solid approach to that would essentially say that unless something is really unusual in this circumstance, the Department of Justice has a policy of granting independent status to domestic violence victims. The Department would have their administrative requirements where they might lead a letter to say that they are accessing a support service. They might need a letter to say that they are accessing a domestic violence refuge. This is all the normal information that would need to be produced in these circumstances. That is understood. Once that low threshold of criteria is met, a status should be issued.

Again, the practices of the Department in this regard are good. It is just a matter of formalising them and communicating them. Part of the work we are trying to do is to have migrant women to the forefront of the conversation in dealing with and communicating with migrant women in migrant communities. They are the key to it all. There is no point in me or in the organisation saying it. Migrant women themselves should do it, for example AkiDwA, and other groups, as well as the event we will hold on Thursday are crucially important. I hope that answers the Deputy’s question.