HEALTH CARE ASSISTANTS from immigrant backgrounds won’t be able to see their children this Christmas due to a restriction that limits who can live with them while they work in Ireland. 

Roughly 2,000 healthcare assistants who come from countries outside of the EU are unable to have their family members with them in Ireland because their earnings are below the allowed threshold for them to claim reunification rights. 

These workers are employed across the Irish healthcare system, particularly in nursing homes and hospitals, and are considered core for day-to-day operations. 

Currently workers from non-EU countries can apply for their family to join them in Ireland after a 12-month waiting period. Restrictions are in place to ensure that the primary worker earns enough to support their family while in Ireland.

One worker impacted by this restriction told The Journal that it has taken a massive toll on their mental health and that she is “heartbroken” not to be able to see her family over Christmas.

Shiji Moncy, a healthcare assistant based in Dublin, said her role involves physical and mental strain and not being able to see her two children makes it tougher. She added that when she finishes her shifts it is often too late in India to call her children.

Shiji with her husband, son and daughter who are in India.

“It is very painful,” she said. “Especially at Christmas when everyone is celebrating. We’re alone here, working hard, and we all are in pain.”

Trade union Unite last week highlighted that some healthcare workers from immigrant backgrounds will still not be able to earn enough, under existing contracts, for their children to join them in Ireland once planned pay increases kick in next month.

Unite wrote to party leaders this month demanding that the issue be urgently addressed in the new Dáil so that thousands of these workers can be reunited with their families in Ireland for Christmas.

Shiji said that she hopes this issue can be addressed by the next government, so that health care assistants from immigrant backgrounds can get the opportunity to see their children.

She detailed that her decision to move to Ireland was for quality-of-life reasons, namely to provide a higher-standard of education for her children. Shiji said not being able to see them does not impact her important work at a hospital in Dublin.

“We have to be smiling all the time. We are too close to the residents, [we care for them] like they’re family. I’ve always been like that,” she told The Journal. “My heart is in pain, and we’re crying inside. We don’t know how long we’ll have to wait like this.”

One regional officer for Unite, Michael O’Brien, has called on the next government to look at immediately elevating salaries for all health care workers so that those on existing contracts will reach the family reunification threshold.

“They also need to scrap the inhuman regime requiring workers to meet a new threshold for each family member they want to bring to live with them,” he said.

The Department of Justice is currently reviewing the issue.  

The Journal attended a protest last year where hundreds demanded action be taken so that they can be granted family status.

Health care assistants are due to receive a pay increase in the new year, but the timing will not cater for them to see their children and may only permit them to be reunited with one family member, such as a spouse.

Despite the scheme acknowledging that the average salary for these workers in the private nursing home sector is €27,000, applicants must earn at least €30,000 for their spouse to join them in Ireland.

That salary threshold increases to €33,000 for healthcare workers to be able to bring one of their children to live with them here, and that level increases further for multiple children. 

If an applicant earns enough to provide for their children on their arrival, the state will also issue a tax-free Working Family Payment – based on the rate of income and other conditions.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told The Journal that since May of this year, spouses, who have joined a loved one in Ireland, can now seek employment without needing a separate work permit.

But the outstanding rules reuniting families with children mean that many of these essential employees work long, hard hours on the frontline of healthcare delivery, separated from their families and missing key moments in their children’s lives.