Non EEA spouse of Irish Citizen - Help pls with return visa

[NearlyIrish]

We have a very unfortunate situation that we need some help on asap pls on how to approach it.

I was naturalized Irish in 2009 and got married to a Mauritian citizen in 2007. My wife joined me then and after my naturalization she got a stamp 4 valid till Dec 2014.

My wife and my daughter (Irish citizen as well) went on holidays 3 weeks ago and were due to travel back on 11/08. However, they got a very unpleasant suprise when they were checking back to Ireland.

Recently there has been a change in visa requirements for Mauritian citizens to re-enter Ireland, which we were not aware of tbh. The last time we travelled there on holidays was in Dec 2011 and there was no requirement for visa to re-enter.

So my wife was not allowed to board the flight back to Ireland due to a re-entry visa stamp missing in her Mauritian passport.

As mentioned she has a valid GNIB with stamp 4 and is in full-time employment as a software engineer.

I was at the visa office in Dub this morning and the person who was issuing the tickets told me that I need to apply on-line for 'Join family' long term visa and get my wife to sign and send all the docs back. He requested to come back to the office once I have all the docs and explain the situation to the officer and they might consider to do a visa quickly.

So, we did the application on-line and my wife DHL'ed all the docs today which am hoping to receive on Wed.

However, I just read the note below as well on the INIS website. My take is that our situation is unique and this should not affect us but I would like to get some explanation as to what it means? Can it delay the approval process? How do I approach this here with the INIS folks.

Policy in relation to visas for purposes of family reunification is currently being developed. Therefore, consideration of visa applications from dependent relatives in the ascending line to join family members in Ireland is temporarily suspended, for a number of weeks, pending publication of the policy.
Applications may continue to be made but applicants should note that these will be considered in the framework of the policy when published. This does not apply to visa applications from family members of persons exercising free movement rights under Directive 2004/38/EC.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Join%20Family

In the meantime, my wife and daughter are stranded in Mauritius.

Any help/guidance much appreciated as I miss my gurls a lot.

Thanks

[jeupsy]

Sorry I don't have good legal advice here, but more of a personal experience one.

If you don't push them, they will process the visa as a normal Join Spouse visa and it will take ages. I would suggest to call the Irish embassy where the visa application is processed (South Africa?), and explain to them that you are an Irish citizen and your wife got stuck without re-entry visa. Tell then clearly that she is already legally resident in Ireland and working here; and that she needs to be back to work soon or she might lose her job (which I guess it probably a genuine concern ...). If they say it will take weeks, just don't take no for an answer and keep insisting.

A colleague of mine got his passport stollen while he was abroad. His country issued him with a new passport, but he was missing a re-entry visa for Ireland. When he went to the Irish embassy, they first told him it would take 2 months. He refused to accept that fact and insisted (and got our company to call the embassy). Eventually they got it done in less than a week.

[NearlyIrish]

Sorry I don't have good legal advice here, but more of a personal experience one.

If you don't push them, they will process the visa as a normal Join Spouse visa and it will take ages. I would suggest to call the Irish embassy where the visa application is processed (South Africa?), and explain to them that you are an Irish citizen and your wife got stuck without re-entry visa. Tell then clearly that she is already legally resident in Ireland and working here; and that she needs to be back to work soon or she might lose her job (which I guess it probably a genuine concern ...). If they say it will take weeks, just don't take no for an answer and keep insisting.

A colleague of mine got his passport stollen while he was abroad. His country issued him with a new passport, but he was missing a re-entry visa for Ireland. When he went to the Irish embassy, they first told him it would take 2 months. He refused to accept that fact and insisted (and got our company to call the embassy). Eventually they got it done in less than a week.

Thank you. No the visa will be processed here in Dub as indicated on the on-line application. According to DHL I'll receive the documents by Wed or Thurs latest. I'll be going to INIS then to explain the situation and hopefully it'll help.
Cheers