Summary: A visa is permission to present at the border and seek entry to Ireland. Most non EEA nationals are required to obtain a visa prior to their arrival to the State. Nationals of certain States, as defined by the Department of Justice and Equality, are referred to as “Non Visa Required” as they are […]

Summary: Travel documents are official photo identity documents where an individual is unable to get a passport. The Travel Document Unit is able to issue travel documents to qualifying applicants. Those eligible for travel documents include refugees, persons granted subsidiary protection, and others who are unable to obtain a passport but only in exceptional circumstances. […]

Summary: The Subsidiary Protection application is an application to the Minister for Justice and Equality requesting permission to remain in the State on protection grounds – that is the Applicant fears he/she will be subject to serious harm if returned to their Country of Origin. As of October 2006, applicants who are seeking asylum in Ireland […]

Summary: There is provision for a non-EEA national who is residing in the State, with or without permission to reside, to apply for permission to remain on the basis of their marriage or civil partnership to an Irish national. If the application is successful, they are likely to be granted a one year renewable permission to […]

Summary: The rights of parents of Irish citizen children to reside in the State is an emerging area of law. Until recently, such applicants could rely on domestic law only. In March 2011, the European Court of Justice issued the seminal Zambrano judgment, which changed the legal platform of such cases by bringing them within […]

Summary: Permission to remain is issued to non Nationals by GNIB officers on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality in the form of a stamp in the passport. It sets out the conditions on which a non-EEA national is permitted to remain in the State and for how long. The stamp also indicates […]

Summary: Through the naturalisation process, a non-Irish national can be issued with a certificate of naturalisation and make an application for an Irish passport. The statutory criteria include the requirement that the applicant have acquired five years reckonable residency in the State and be of good character. The Minister exercises absolute discretion in determining applications […]

Summary: Long Term Residency permits non-EEA nationals who have been in the State on the basis of Work Permits, with corresponding permission to reside on Stamp 1 or Stamp 4 permission, to apply for a more secure status. If the application is successful, a grant of permission to remain on Stamp 4 conditions for five […]

Summary: A non-EEA national can make an application for humanitarian leave to remain under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 after they have been issued with a Notification of Intention to Deport pursuant to Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999. Under the Act, the Minister is required to consider a number of humanitarian grounds […]

Summary: Recognised refugees have a qualified and an unqualified right to have their family members join them in the State. The rights depend on which family members are seeking to join him here. The issue of dependency is very important for family members who are not a spouse, minor child, or parent (of a refugee who […]

Summary: EU Treaty Rights refers to the rights EEA nationals derive from EU Treaty Law. The area is regulated by Directive 2004/38 (known as the Free Movement Directive) and the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No.2) Regulations 2006 which transposes the Directive into Irish law. The Directive provides that when an EEA national is […]