Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 October 2015
239. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the procedures to be followed to facilitate an upgrade of stamp 2 to stamp 4 for a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath who is in continuous employment along with the person's spouse, whose children were both born here, and whose circumstances and responsibilities have changed since the award of stamp 2 status; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37107/15]
View answerI am informed by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INIS) of my Department that the persons referred to by the Deputy have not made applications to INIS to change their immigration status. The persons were registered as Students in the State in 2009 and this permission expired in 2014.
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 degree students, subject to the provisions of the new regime, for a maximum period of seven years. Three years are permitted at non-degree level. The persons referred to by the Deputy arrived in the State in 2009 as students. As such they do not qualify for Stamp 4 status. They are advised to look at the "student pathway" on the Department's website www.inis.gov.ie to see whether there are any post-study pathways available to them.
The Deputy will be aware that 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.
