Programme to allow 500 more Afghans to settle in Ireland

The Afghan Admission Programme will allow current or former Afghan nationals living legally in Ireland to apply to have their close family members, who are living in Afghanistan or who have recently fled to territories bordering Afghanistan, to apply for temporary residence in Ireland. Photo: AP/Petros Giannakouris

A programme that will allow up to 500 additional Afghans to settle in Ireland is to open.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced today that the Afghan Admission Programme will open for applications this Thursday.

The programme will allow current or former Afghan nationals living legally in Ireland to apply to have their close family members, who are living in Afghanistan or who have recently fled to territories bordering Afghanistan, to apply for temporary residence in Ireland.

Up to 500 places will be available. Ms McEntee said she is "very conscious of the plight faced by the Afghan people following the collapse of the former Afghan government and the takeover by the Taliban".

“A reversal of human rights, increased violence and fear of reprisals has led to a large number of displaced people seeking help. Understandably, it has also been a very worrying time for the Afghan community living in Ireland as they fear for the safety of their family members in Afghanistan or displaced to neighbouring countries.

In processing applications, we will be prioritising those who are especially vulnerable and whose freedom and safety is most at risk, like older people, children, single female parents, single women and girls and people with disabilities. 

"We will also give priority to people whose previous employment exposes them to greater risk, for example UN and EU employees and people who worked for civil society organisations.”

The Programme is part of a co-ordinated national response, in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, to the crisis in Afghanistan.

An additional 500 places has been made available through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme for refugees from Afghanistan since August, with visa waivers provided by the Department of Justice. The Department has also provided assistance to Afghan nationals through the statutory family reunification provisions.

The Afghan Admission Programme will be largely based on the previous Syrian Humanitarian Assistance Programme (SHAP) and the IRPP Humanitarian Assistance Programme (IHAP) schemes, which also provided for the nomination of limited numbers of close family members.

Brian Killoran, chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland said: “Like everyone else across Ireland and the world, we here at the Immigrant Council of Ireland have watched helplessly in horror at the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Afghanistan this year, and we have stood in solidarity with our sisters and brothers facing such uncertainty and trepidation.

“We are relieved that the Irish Government is acting on the overwhelmingly supportive sentiment of the Irish people to want to help, by opening up this humanitarian scheme. We sympathise with Ireland’s Afghan community who are desperate to reunite with family members stranded back home, living in potentially dangerous conditions."

However, the council raised a number of areas of concern with the programme.

Immigrant Council welcomes announcement of #Afghanistan Humanitarian Assistance Programme but raises concerns about scheme requirements that may present challenges to applicants based in Afghanistan: https://t.co/YwoUMW2rck #RefugeesWelcome #AHAP

— Immigrant Council.ie (@immigrationIRL) December 14, 2021

“In order for our Afghan sisters and brothers to be reunited with their loved ones, we are calling on the Department of Justice to consider expanding the scheme beyond the proposed 500 places, as well as broadening the eligibility to include family sub-groups such as siblings and extended family – as is the norm within Afghan culture," said Mr Killoran.

“We are also stating our concerns echoed by other migrant rights groups today at the difficulties for Afghanistan-based individuals to not only access identity documents like passports, but also to safely post these documents to Ireland. For months there has been little to no reliable postal service within Afghanistan due to the breakdown of the previous regime’s infrastructure. It’s not realistic to expect displaced and potentially terrorised refugees to be able to provide these required documents.

“Similarly, we call on the Government to provide Irish travel documents to those individuals who are successful with their applications, to enable safe transit to Ireland from Afghanistan. Without these documents, many beneficiaries will be unable to leave the country.”