I am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that the person referred to by the Deputy entered the State on 18/01/2007 and was registered as a Student in the State on 01/02/2007. This person currently has permission to be in the State on Student conditions until 31/01/2014.
The person concerned does not have an application pending with INIS. However, all non-EEA students resident in the State are subject to the student immigration rules set out under the "new immigration regime for full time non-EEA students" which was published in September 2010 and has been in effect since 1 January 2011. These rules stipulate that non-EEA nationals may reside in Ireland as students, subject to the provisions of the new regime, for a maximum period of seven years. The person referred to by the Deputy arrived in the State and registered in 2007. This person will have accumulated 7 years in January 2014. As such she does not qualify for a Stamp 4 status. When her permission expires she will have to leave the State.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process.
The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.