Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2012
434. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to an incident which occurred on 16 November, when persons queuing outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau on Burgh Quay, Dublin, were asked to leave by the gardaí and told to return the following Monday when the cost of registration would increase from €150 to €330; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53723/12]
View answer453. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason a 100% increase made in the fees charged to students having to renew their visas was introduced at less than a week’s notice; her views on criticism that students attempting to apply for the visa on the Friday before the increase came into effect, and who were asked to return the following Monday to resubmit their documentation, were unfairly penalised as a result of being charged the new higher rate of €300. [54032/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 434 and 453 together.
In the Dublin Metropolitan Region, the registration of non-nationals is undertaken by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) at the Registration Office situated at 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2. There are extended opening hours in operation in the office from Monday to Thursday (8:00 AM to 10:00 PM); on Friday the hours are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. As it happens, September and October are the peak months for registrations in the State primarily as a result of students beginning or returning to their studies. In recognition of this, special arrangements are put in place in September and October to facilitate the registration of students in major public and private colleges. Periods of time are set aside in the public office of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 specifically for registration of students.
This year these arrangements were extended into November. Naturally, at particularly busy periods and not withstanding the special arrangements put in place, there may be occasions when, based on the numbers seeking to register and estimated processing times, processing capacity is reached for that day and persons attending beyond that point are asked to return at another time. This is simply a matter of managing demand on the day in a sensible, proactive and safe manner.
The increase in the fee in respect of the issue of a registration certificate under the Immigration Act, 2004 came into effect on 19 November, 2012. Any person issued with a registration certificate from that date will be required to pay the new fee of €300 unless they come within those categories exempted from the charge. In respect of persons who may have been seeking to obtain a re-entry visa, I should point out that the fees for same have not changed.
It should be noted that in recognition of the circumstances of certain categories of person, there are specific exemptions from paying the registration fee set out in the regulations; these are the following:
- UN Convention Refugees;
- Family members of such refugees who have been admitted to the State in accordance with section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996;
- Persons who are under 18 years of age at the time of registration;
- Spouses, civil partners, widows and widowers of Irish citizens;
- Spouses and Dependants of EU nationals who receive a residence permit under EU Directive 38/04;
- Programme Refugees, as defined by section 24 of the Refugee Act, 1996; and
- Persons subject to arrangements for victims of human trafficking.
The above categories of non-nationals exempted from the fee payment are almost 20% of the total numbers registering. Last year alone, this amounted to 21, 443 persons and €3.2 million in fees waived.
It is an unavoidable consequence that people seeking to register will fall on the either side of the fee increase introduction. It is understandable too that many people would have sought to avail of the lower rate in advance of the fee increase resulting in numbers at the public office Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) rising to exceptional levels at certain times.
For the sake of completeness, I should also add that the cost of various services to immigrants here compares favourably with other jurisdictions and that, in particular in respect of student immigrants, the fee charged for immigration services is, in the great majority of cases, a small proportion of the overall fees they are required to pay the supplier of educational services. I would point out that this is the first increase since 2008 and that the fee increase itself will be used to defray some of the costs of providing and developing enhanced services to migrants.
The following information was provided under Standing Order 40A.
The main issue that gave rise to the difficulty on the day in question was physical capacity in the office which deals with immigration registration which is performed by civilian employees of An Garda Síochána.
At an early stage of the day in question, it became clear that physical capacity to the office to deal with applications had been reached and indeed exceeded. Because of this a number of applicants were turned away and advised to return on the following week - at which time of course the fee increase had come into effect. It is not possible to say with complete accuracy how many people were in this category but the Gardaí estimate that it may have been in the region of 60 people. I am also advised that this number is likely to include people who had other immigration related business on that day which was unrelated to registration.
Having reflected on the matter, in addition to turning these applicants away and requesting them to return on another occasion, it would also have been appropriate to take their details so that upon their return a lower fee could have been charged to them. In saying this, I think it is important to acknowledge that everyone acted in good faith and made their best endeavours to deal with a huge increase in the volume of callers to the office where this business is conducted.
While clearly there will always be difficulties in circumstances where fees are being increased where some will inevitably fall outside the cut off point, nevertheless it should be possible to put in place some arrangement to deal with the type of situation which occurred in this instance.
Accordingly, I have requested my officials in conjunctions with the Garda National Immigration Bureau to devise a system which would to the greatest extent possible avoid a recurrence of such a problem.
In the meantime, I would like to apologise to the individuals in question for any inconvenience caused to them. It is not possible to independently identify such persons so therefore they cannot be refunded the additional fee charge.
