Press Release
Tuesday February 9, 2010Migrants become undocumented through Government maladministration: Immigrant Council of Ireland
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) has today called on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to urgently intervene in an inexcusable failure of coordination between two arms of his department, which is resulting migrants becoming undocumented.
ICI chief executive Denise Charlton also said the Minister should also direct his department to ensure that no migrant affected by the mess should be disadvantaged.
The situation affects migrants granted residence permits on the basis of their being the parents of Irish children. More than 17,000 people have this status and most must renew their residence permits this year.
Last December, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS), an arm of the Department of Justice, advertised the procedure that this group of migrants were to follow to have their permits renewed. This involved presenting at the Garda National Immigration Bureau or local Immigration Office (GNIB), another arm of the Department of Justice, with the necessary documents and fee.
However, people who have been following these instructions have been told by the GNIB that it is unable to renew their permits without further direction from INIS.
“The Immigrant Council of Ireland has received numerous phone calls from migrants who are now undocumented, or are about to become undocumented, through this appalling lack of coordination,” Ms Charlton said.
“We are also aware that several people, at least, have lost their jobs because they were unable to renew their residence permits, and others have voiced concern that their jobs are in jeopardy. In addition, a woman who is about to begin a course of study is concerned she will not be permitted to because her residence permit has expired.
“The Immigrant Council has contacted by INIS and GNIB numerous times over the past few weeks calling for the situation to be resolved. It is now time for the Minister to step in and sort out this mess and to direct that no migrant is disadvantaged as a result of the problems caused by his department.”
Ms Charlton said some affected migrants were being offered a temporary, three-month residence permit to prevent them becoming undocumented but this was not consistently being offered to all applicants. In addition, those migrants who have been offered the temporary permit were being charged €150 for it.
Ms Charlton said the Minister for Justice must:
• resolve the situation and allow for the renewal process to be restarted
• in the absence of a resolution to the issue in the short term, ensure temporary residence permits were offered to all affected migrants
• not charge €150 for the temporary permit and, in those cases where the fee has already been levied, waive the €150 for the substantive permit
• direct that no migrant affected by this situation is disadvantaged by having “gaps” recorded in their immigration history, which could count against them should they apply for citizenship in the future.
For more information, please contact Ruth Evans on 087 067 3676.