Majority of undocumented who applied to legalise status in Ireland have been successful

Doras chief executive John Lannon described the scheme as 'life-changing for so many people who have already made Ireland their home and are contributing enormously to workplaces and communities throughout the country'.

The majority of applicants to the “once-in-a-generation” scheme for undocumented migrants to regularise their status in Ireland who have been issued a decision have been successful in their bid with a 97% approval rate so far.

However, there are still just under 1,700 applications left to process and the Department of Justice has said processing times “may vary depending on the complexity of the applications”.

Furthermore, international protection applicants who applied through a separate strand of the scheme have seen 1,375 successful decisions from a total of 3,193 applications received. A further 1,017 of these applicants have been granted an equivalent permission by the International Protection Office, while 396 applications were deemed “ineligible”.

The Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants scheme opened for applications on January 31, 2022, and closed on July 31.

It allowed for those who are undocumented a chance to regularise their status to work legally and, in time, apply for citizenship.

John Lannon, chief executive of Limerick-based refugee and migrants right centre Doras, described the scheme as “life-changing for so many people who have already made Ireland their home and are contributing enormously to workplaces and communities throughout the country”.

However, Mr Lannon cited the €700 application fee for families and €550 for an individual as having caused “quite a bit of anxiety” at the time.

'Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity'

Before the deadline in July, he said: “The Government needs to reassure people that it is safe to apply for this scheme, and that supports are available to help them do so. It is vital that people do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” 

The highest number of applications came from citizens of Brazil, from where there were 1,504 people applying to regularise their status.

There were a further 1,307 applicants from Pakistan and 1,159 from China, including Hong Kong, according to department figures. Significant numbers of applicants also came from the Philippines (751 applicants), Nigeria (446 applicants), and India (313 applicants).

In all, of the 6,548 applications encompassing 8,311 persons, including 1,108 children, 4,857 decisions have been issued.

Of these, 4,796 received a positive decision, 94 received a negative decision, and 47 withdrew their applications for various reasons.

In response to a parliamentary question, the minister for justice said if a person did not meet the terms of the scheme, they should reach out to the Immigration Service Delivery section of the department to take steps to regularise their status.

“In all cases, people must engage with the authorities if they wish to be permitted to remain here legally. A pragmatic approach is taken in relation to each case, which is considered on its individual merits.”