An Afghan man living in Ireland has been unsuccessful in his High Court bid to have his elderly parents and younger sister permitted to join him in the country, after the court determined he lacks the financial means to support them, reports Breaking News.
The now 42-year-old man, who earns €450 per week working as a mechanic in a garage owned by a fellow Afghan national in Dublin, fled Afghanistan in 2014 after claiming he was being threatened by criminal elements and had been jailed for four months after approaching police for help.
He was refused refugee status upon arriving in Ireland but was granted subsidiary protection in 2018 — a status afforded to those deemed to face a genuine risk if returned to their home country, reports Breaking News.
He married in Pakistan in 2018 and was subsequently granted long-stay visas for his wife and son. A second child was later born in Ireland, reports Breaking News.
In March 2022, he applied under the Afghan Admission Programme — a government scheme providing 500 temporary residency visas for those at risk following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 — for his 80-year-old father, his 51-year-old mother, and his 33-year-old sister.
A younger brother was also initially included in the application but is believed to have drowned in 2024 while attempting to cross from Mauritania to Gran Canaria by boat, reports Breaking News.
The Minister for Justice refused the application on the grounds that the man did not have sufficient financial resources to support his family members.
The applicant challenged this decision in the High Court, arguing that a change in approach from around Spring 2024 — when the department began applying stricter scrutiny to the financial requirements following concerns that some beneficiaries had become dependent on State support — had meant he was treated more harshly than earlier applicants to the scheme, reports Breaking News.
Justice Anthony Barr dismissed the challenge, finding that the delay alone was insufficient to entitle the man to the relief he sought.
The judge also said it was entirely unrealistic to suggest that someone earning €450 per week could meet the accommodation, food, and living costs for a total of seven people, reports Breaking News.
He noted that the man’s father was elderly and in poor health and was being cared for by his wife, while his sister had not provided any evidence of qualifications or a plan for securing employment in Ireland.
The judge further observed that the applicant himself was not a qualified mechanic, could neither read nor write, and was employed in a garage owned by a personal contact — meaning his prospects of finding alternative employment on the open market, where he would be competing with qualified and literate tradespeople, would be extremely limited should he lose his current position, reports Breaking News.
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