Thousands of non-EU healthcare workers in Ireland face a heartbreaking Christmas away from their children due to strict income requirements for family reunification, sparking calls for urgent reform.
Around 2,000 healthcare assistants, vital to Ireland’s hospitals and nursing homes, cannot bring their children to live with them because their salaries fall below government thresholds. Workers must earn at least €33,000 to bring one child to Ireland, with the threshold rising for additional children – well above the typical €27,000 salary in private nursing homes.
“It is very painful,” says Shiji Moncy, a Dublin-based healthcare assistant separated from her two children in India. “Especially at Christmas when everyone is celebrating. We’re alone here, working hard, and we all are in pain.” Due to time differences, she often can’t even call her children after finishing her shifts.
While a pay increase is planned for January, Unite trade union warns it won’t be enough to help most workers reach the family reunification threshold. The union has called the current system “inhuman” and is urging the next government to raise healthcare worker salaries and revise the threshold requirements.
According to The Journal, though the Department of Justice now allows spouses who join workers in Ireland to seek employment without separate permits, the rules still leave many essential healthcare workers missing crucial moments in their children’s lives while working long hours on the frontlines.
The Department of Justice is reviewing the policy, but for workers like Moncy, who moved to Ireland hoping to provide better educational opportunities for her children, this Christmas will be another spent apart from loved ones.