Residence rights of non-EEA nationals in Ireland

Information

If you are not a citizen of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, there are various forms of residence rights (permission to remain) that allow you to live in Ireland. (The European Economic Area consists of the European Union member states, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.) 

Permission to remain

Permission to remain  in Ireland is granted by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and consists of a special stamp endorsed on your passport. This is usually called a residence stamp. The various types of stamp and their meanings are covered in detail in the Rules section of this document.

If you are granted permission to remain, a Certificate of Registration is endorsed on your passport by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) or the local Garda registration office - see ‘How to apply’ below.

Depending on the circumstances, members of your family may be able to come to Ireland with you, or to join you when you are here. 

Proposed changes to immigration law

The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 (pdf), published in January 2008 by the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is to replace the present immigration legislation. Its provisions would also put administrative procedures such as visa applications and long-term residence (see below) into legislation. Other proposed changes include a new integrated process of application for protection which would replace applications for refugee status, subsidiary protection and leave to remain.

Rules

Documentation

If you are a non-EEA national and intend to come to live in Ireland, there are several important pieces of documentation that you will need before coming here. These documents include:

• Your passport: which must be valid for at least the duration of your proposed stay 
• The relevant visa: if you are a citizen of a visa-required country 
• An employment permit, business visa or business permission: if you intend to work or engage in business in Ireland

An immigration officer will examine your documentation when you present yourself at the point of entry to Ireland. You may be asked to show evidence that you have enough funds to support yourself and any dependants for the duration of your proposed stay. You may also be required to answer other questions relevant to your application for permission to remain. The onus rests with you to satisfy the immigration officer as to the genuine reason for your presence in Ireland.  In other words, you must satisfy them that your credentials are authentic.

Certificate of Registration

If everything is in order, the immigration officer will place the appropriate stamp on your passport. If your stay is for longer than 3 months, you will have to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau or your local immigration office who will issue you with a GNIB Certificate of Registration (also known as a GNIB card). It is the same size as a credit card and will show what type of residence stamp you hold.

Depending on your nationality and your legal status in Ireland, this card may also function as a residence card, or residence document – see below. It is not an identity document: it is just a certificate that you have registered with the Garda Síochána as required by Irish immigration law.

Family members

In general, your family members may join you in Ireland if you can show that you can support them without recourse to public funds. In practice, this means that you have enough money to support them without qualifying for Family Income Supplement (FIS). This payment depends on your income and the number of dependants you have.

Employment permit holders

If you have an employment permit, you have permission to remain in Ireland for as long as your employment permit is valid. You will get a stamp number 1 on your passport. This stamp gives you permission to remain on condition that you do not enter any employment unless you or your employer have obtained an employment permit.

Undocumented workers: If your work permit is no longer valid and, through no fault of your own, you no longer have permission to remain, there is a new scheme for certain undocumented non-EEA workers. The scheme only applies to non-EEA nationals who previously held a work permit or a Green Card permit and who have become undocumented through their employer's action or inaction. The closing date for applications is 31 December 2009 and successful applicants will be granted temporary residence permission for 4 months. You can find the application form and further details about the scheme for undocumented workers on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.

Business permission holders

You will need a business permission if you wish to establish or engage in business in Ireland. A business permission is granted for 1 year initially. If you have a business permission, you will also get a stamp number 1 on your passport. This stamp gives you permission to remain for as long as your business permission is valid.

Students

If you are coming to Ireland as a non-EEA student you should check the guidelines for students on the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service website. 

There are 2 forms of permission to remain for non-EEA students.

(a) If you are attending a full time course of education (of at least 1 year’s duration) leading to qualifications recognised by the Minister for Education and Science, you will be permitted to take up casual employment. Casual employment is defined as up to a maximum of 20 hours part-time work per week or up to 40 hours per week during normal college vacation periods. The Department of Education and Science has a register of recognised courses. Stamp number 2 will be endorsed on your passport if you meet this requirement. The stamp will be valid until you have finished your course of study and your entitlement to take up employment ceases when your permission to remain expires.
(b) If you are not attending such a course, you will not be entitled to take up part-time work or engage in any business or profession. You will get stamp number 2A on your passport. This stamp gives you permission to remain until you have finished your course.

Third Level Graduate Scheme: Non-EEA students who have graduated on or after 1 January 2007 with a primary, master's or doctorate degree from an Irish third-level institution and have a current GNIB Certificate of Registration may be permitted to apply for the Third Level Graduate Scheme (pdf). People who qualify under this scheme will be granted 1 non-renewable extension to their current student permission (Stamp 2) for a 6-month period starting on the date upon which the person receives their examination results. The purpose of the permission to remain under this Scheme is to seek employment and gain a Green Card or work permit. 

Spouse of an Irish national

If you are a non-EEA national married to an Irish national you do not have an automatic right to live in Ireland. There are 2 ways to apply for permission to live in Ireland:

• If you currently have permission to live in Ireland, you should go with your Irish national spouse to register with the GNIB or your local immigration officer as the spouse of an Irish national - see 'How to apply' below.
• If you do not have permission to live in Ireland, you must apply in writing to the Marriage to Irish National Section of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) - see 'Where to apply below.

You can find details of the application procedures for spouses of Irish nationals on the INIS website. Once you have permission to live in Ireland on the basis of marriage to an Irish national you may get a stamp 4 on your passport - see 'People who are allowed to work in Ireland - other eligible categories' below.

De facto relationships

Non-EEA nationals who are in de facto or non-marital relationships must have permission to remain in the State as follows:

• A non-EEA national whose partner is an Irish national must provide proof of a durable relationship of at least 2 years. If the non-EEA national is granted permission to remain they are not required to have a work permit.
• If you are a non-EEA national whose partner is an EU national you can apply for a residence card if you have proof of a durable relationship of at least 2 years. If you are granted permission to remain you will not need a work permit.
• A non-EEA national whose partner is also a non-EEA national must provide evidence of a durable relationship of at least 4 years and must have an employment permit in order to work.

You can find further information about de facto relationships on the INIS website.

Victims of human trafficking

A non-EEA national who has been identified as a suspected victim of human trafficking may be granted permission to remain in Ireland for up to 60 days. In certain cases such a non-EEA national may be granted further periods of temporary residence in Ireland. Further details of this permission to remain are available in More about this topic.

People who are not allowed to work in Ireland

If you are coming to Ireland as a visitor, a tourist, the spouse or dependant of an employment permit holder, as a retired person, or in order to receive medical treatment, you will get a stamp number 3 on your passport. If you have a stamp 3 you will not be entitled to work or engage in any business or profession while in Ireland. The length of time that this stamp is valid will depend on your circumstances.

Spouses and some dependants of employment permit holders once they are legally resident in the State are free to seek employment and apply for a spousal/dependant work permit.

People who are allowed to work in Ireland

European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2006

If you are a non-EEA family member of an EU citizen who meets the requirements as laid out in the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No. 2) Regulations 2006 (pdf) you must apply to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) – see ‘How to apply’ below.

In order to benefit from the Regulations it was a requirement that the family member must be arriving from another EU state where he or she was legally resident. This requirement has been removed and previous applications which were refused for this reason are being reviewed. More information is available on the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service website.

When you register with the GNIB or your local registration office the Certificate of Registration that you receive will be a residence card with the wording 4 EU FAM (that is, the residence card of a family member of an EU citizen). As a holder of this card 4 EU FAM, you will be visa-exempt even if you are a visa-required national and you will be permitted to work without an employment permit or operate a business.

Employment permit for 5 years

From 28 August 2009 if you have worked on an employment permit for 5 consecutive years you will no longer need a permit to work in Ireland. You should apply to your local immigration officer – see ‘How to apply’ below – who will issue you with a stamp 4 immigration permission for one year. This permission may be renewed annually and it will allow you to take up any employment but not self-employment. Further details about this immigration permission are available on the INIS website.

Other eligible categories

If you are in Ireland as the spouse or dependant of an Irish or other EEA national, or of a Swiss national, you will get a stamp 4, which means that you will not need an employment permit or business permission. When you register with the Garda, the Certificate of Registration (GNIB card) that you receive will be a residence document.

If you are a non-EEA national married to an EU national you can apply to get a stamp 4 while your application for residency is being processed. 

You will also get stamp 4 if you come under one of the following categories: Convention or Programme refugees; former asylum seekers granted leave to remain.  

This stamp also applies if you are on an intra-company transfer (pdf). The length of time that this stamp is valid will depend on your circumstances. 

Long-term residence rights

Depending on your circumstances, you can acquire long-term residence rights if you have been legally resident in Ireland for 5 years or more. You will still need to register with the Garda authorities and obtain a GNIB card.

If you have been here on the basis of work permit conditions for over 5 years, you may apply for extended residence permission for a further 5 years. Your spouse and dependants may also apply for long-term residency if they have been legally resident in Ireland for at least 5 years. If your application is successful you will be granted exemption from the requirement to have an employment permit in order to work in Ireland and you will get a stamp number 4 on your passport. Your dependants will get a stamp number 3 and will still be required to have an employment permit to work in Ireland.

Otherwise, if you have been legally resident for over 8 years (but not as a student or an asylum-seeker) you may apply for stamp number 5 on your passport, which gives you permission to remain in Ireland "without condition as to time”. You will be entitled to work or engage in a business or profession while in Ireland. This stamp lasts until the expiry date of your passport, and can be renewed when you get a new passport.

If you have a 4 EU-FAM stamp on your passport, you may apply for a permanent residence card after 5 years in the State – see ‘How to apply’ below. If successful you will be issued with a permanent residence card for 5 years.

It is also possible to apply for Irish citizenship through naturalisation after you have built up 5 years of reckonable residence for citizenship purposes. The residence requirements for citizenship through marriage to an Irish citizen are more lenient.

Rates

There is a fee of €150 (from 23 August 2008) for the Certificate of Registration, but you do not have to pay a fee if you are:

• A Programme refugee
• A Convention refugee
• A person who has been reunified with such a refugee under Section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996
• Under the age of 18 at the time of registration
• The spouse, widow or widower of an Irish citizen
• A family member of an EU national and you qualify for a residence card under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No. 2) Regulations 2006.

Long Term Residency: From 7 September 2009 under the Long Term Residency (Fees) Regulations (pdf) you must pay a fee of €500 when you are granted Long Term Residency.

How to apply

If you are staying in Ireland for longer than 3 months you should go to your local immigration registration office. Ask for the registration officer as soon as possible following your arrival in Ireland. Within the Dublin area, the registration office is the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) - see 'Where to apply' below. Outside Dublin, it is the local Garda District Headquarters.

If you are a non-EEA family member of an EU citizen who meets the requirements as laid out in the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No. 2) Regulations 2006 (pdf) you must apply to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) using form EU 1 (pdf) to have your case processed. If you are a person to whom the Regulations apply you will get a letter from INIS telling you to register with your local immigration registration office where you will receive your residence card with the wording 4 EU FAM.

For a permanent residence card for a family member who has lived in the State for 5 years apply using the application form EU 3 (pdf).

Completed application forms should be returned to the EU Treaty Rights Section of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS). There is a list of frequently asked question about EU Treaty Rights on the INIS website.

Where to apply