Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 October 2016
55. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if transfer of status from stamp 2 to stamp 4 can be effected in the case of a person (details supplied); if eligibility for naturalisation exists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31383/16]
View answerI am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the person referred to by the Deputy entered the State on 25th January 2015 and was registered as a student on Stamp 2 conditions on 7th April 2015. Their most recent permission to remain in the State expired on 31st January 2016.
The person concerned wrote to INIS in 24 June 2016 seeking to regularise their permission to remain in the State. They were informed by letter of 6th July 2016 that as they have not completed the maximum time permitted for student conditions in the State, they are entitled to apply for further permission to remain in the State as a student until they have reached the maximum period allowable which is seven years.
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 2015, and they will have accumulated 7 years in January 2022.
Those persons who are on the student pathway do not qualify for Stamp 4 permission to remain in the State. As such, when the permission enjoyed by the person concerned expires, then they will have to leave the State. It should be noted that Stamp 2 permission is not currently considered to be reckonable in respect of naturalisation or citizenship.
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.
