Campaigns 
Undocumented Migrants
Friday, 03 September 2010
The issue of undocumented migration in Ireland, and the particular vulnerabilities and difficulties faced by migrants in this situation, is one that the ICI has been highlighting since we were established in 2001. Through our Information and Referral Service and Legal Service, migrants have access to clear and reliable information on how to maintain, renew or change their immigration status, remedies to address situations to minimise the risk of becoming undocumented or appropriate action to take if it should happen.
Based on the experience of the ICI’s service users and clients, and confirmed by international research, most undocumented migrants in Ireland first enter the country legally and become undocumented for a variety of complex reasons. These can include overstaying visas, exploitation in employment and lengthy administrative delays in processing applications for residence permits.
There are no official data on how many undocumented migrants are in Ireland. On the basis of data available from the ICI’s Legal and Information and Referral Services, undocumented migrants are present in all sectors of the economy, formal and informal, and include people who had many different types of immigration statuses, including green cards, work permits, former asylum seekers, international students and people who entered Ireland on visitors visas or as family members of migrant workers or Irish citizens.
Based on the data from the ICI’s service users over a three year period (2007 to 2009), the average gender breakdown is 52 per cent male and 48 per cent female.
An analysis of the profile of clients accessing the ICI’s legal service in 2007 showed that almost 100 per cent of those who were documented at the time of lodging an application with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform became undocumented while awaiting a decision. About 25 per cent were undocumented at the time they lodged an application.
The ICI recognises that administrative and statutory procedures exist that allow undocumented migrants to apply to regularise their situation and we welcome the fact that many of our clients have received sympathetic and positive responses to their applications on an individual basis.
However, there is often very little information available on the procedures that exist or how to apply. Each application is determined on the basis of ministerial discretion, which creates a lack of transparency and consistency in decision-making.
Applications can take years to be processed.
The ICI has been campaigning for the Irish Government to consider the creative and compassionate regularisation programmes adopted by Governments in many other countries including Greece, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the USA.
In addition to addressing the plight of migrants who are currently undocumented, the ICI believes that statutory provisions should be included in immigration legislation to give people the opportunity to regularise their situation. This is particularly important for people who have become undocumented through workplace exploitation, because they are victims of domestic violence or trafficking or because they are failed asylum seekers who cannot be removed from the State, for example, stateless persons.
It is imperative that these provisions be consistent with Ireland’s international and domestic human rights obligations.
Submission: To the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, January 2010