Policy regarding non-EEA students under review

A set of proposals aimed at reforming non-EEA full time student immigration has been published by the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Dermot Ahern.

The new proposals envisage that non-EEA students should, with limited exceptions, spend no more than 5 years in Ireland as a student overall with a limit of two years in further education or English language courses. It had become apparent that a significant number of language students in particular were enrolling year after year as a means of remaining in the State and working. Overall the review places an increased emphasis on progression through the system.

Announcing the Review, Minister Ahern said: 'We need a take a fresh look at how we are dealing with non-EEA students. International education is a vital industry with significant growth potential and we will only achieve that potential by having a visibly strong regulatory environment. The vast majority of our service providers offer a quality product and it is everyone's interest to root out those who do not or who engage in abuses of the system. From an immigration perspective we also have to be satisfied that people coming to Ireland do so for a genuine purpose and comply with any conditions applicable to their stay.'

The following are other key recommendations of the proposal document:

• Creation of a two tier system for students (Tier 1 reserved for degree level and above and the English language and further education sectors in Tier 2
• Capping the length of time a student can spend in Tier 2 to two years and the overall time present in the state as a student to 5 years overall (with exceptions for those at Masters and PHD level or on long term courses such as medicine)
• A quality mark should be established with courses not achieving a quality standard no longer recognised for immigration purposes. (Development of the Quality Mark was announced in recent days by the Minister for Education and Science)
• Increased focus on inspection
• Consideration should be given to developing a licensing system for providers of education to overseas students
• Further restrictions on the placement of non-EEA children in Irish Schools that are in receipt of State funding. The possibility of a levy that would recoup the full economic cost to be considered. 
• Continued restriction on family reunification for students with some exceptions
• Provision for internship or work placement as part of an educational course
• Consideration of a visa requirement for all students staying beyond 3 months with certain possible exceptions on the basis of traditional two-way migration patterns or proven low risk     
• An interdepartmental group chaired by the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform to co-ordinate policy development in relation to student immigration. (This group will work in tandem with a new high level group proposed by the Minister for Education and Science aimed at developing Ireland's International Education Sector)

There are no immediate plans to change the current system whereby full time non-EEA students pursuing a course on the Internationalisation Register are permitted to work 20 hours per week during term time and 40 hours per week outside that. However, it is proposed that, in the interests of general consistency and in the context of the current economic climate,  the concession should be the subject of further analysis.