'Star student' may be unable to go to college due to 'devastating' visa delays

Student Julia Galiza: Despite completing her entire second-level education here, she remains ineligible for the free fees scheme, which is not determined by a student’s residency in Ireland, as she waits for her citizenship to be processed. Pictures: Gareth Chaney

The Government has been called on to address “devastating” visa anomalies that threaten to derail a star student’s university education.

Julia Galiza, 18, may be forced to delay taking up her college studies due to what she describes as an “impossible situation” facing the children of immigrants. 

Despite completing her entire second-level education here, Julia remains ineligible for the free fees scheme, which is not determined by a student’s residency in Ireland, as she waits for her citizenship to be processed.

“If this doesn't change, I will have to defer my application to college because I won’t be able to go," she told the Irish Examiner. 

The Leaving Cert student at Pobalscoil Neasáim in Baldoyle, Dublin, hopes to study biomedical engineering at Trinity College Dublin in September.

She is currently awaiting her Irish citizenship but has been left in limbo on a Stamp 3 visa while that processes. As a non-EU student on a Stamp 3 visa, she would face fees of upwards of €20,000 in college fees annually, which would put severe strain on her family financially. 

Ms Galiza came to Ireland from Brazil at the age of 12. Her father is a critical skills worker.

While her parents were able to apply for citizenship through naturalisation in 2023 after five years of permanent residency here, as a minor, Julia had to wait to begin the process until she turned 18 last October. She is now awaiting the Garda vetting process to conclude, which could take another several months.

The process is “slow-paced and lacks priority”, she said. Faced with a ticking clock and up against CAO deadlines, she has considered taking a year off after her exams to work and save for college.

However, a Stamp 3 visa prohibits its holder from working. "Hopefully, my citizenship will come through at some stage during 2026, and then I would be able to work and save for college but if I am not able to, I will just have to stay home, maybe do a bit of my own independent study and try again later in 2026.”

Julia hopes by speaking out about the lack of urgency she can help shed light on a group of students who “keep falling through the cracks of the process”.

Julia with school principal Bríd Ní Annrachain: 'Julia has been one of our star students'.

Her school has called on the Government to act without delay. Principal of Pobalscoil Neasáim Bríd Ní Annrachain asked why Ireland is out of step with other EU countries, which all allow residency to be used as  criteria for accessing financial assistance for third level, not citizenship.

"It is policy in other EU countries, why are we different," she said. 

Ms Ní Annrachain added: “It's one of those anomalies in the system. Julia has been one of our star students —  she’s very academic, she’s head girl, which is an extraordinary achievement when you look at it, having only come to Ireland at the age of 12 and having to learn English.

Then to see one of our hardest-working students say to us ‘oh, well I’m not sure I can go to college because I don’t qualify as an EU student, I don’t qualify as an Irish resident’. 

Deficiencies in visa stamp categories can straightforward to fix, Ms Galiza pointed out. “The spouses of critical skills workers used to be in the same situation, where they had Stamp 3 visas and they couldn’t work. In 2019, that changed, because a lot had careers already when coming here. Now they have a Stamp 1G.” 

Why can’t the children of critical skills workers, who are longtime residents and who have completed their secondary education here, also access Stamp 1G visas, she asked.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Further and Higher Education said students seeking to access the free fees initiative were required to be attending an approved fulltime undergraduate course. 

"Eligibility criteria for the scheme include rules regarding nationality, residency and progression. Eligibility assessment is determined by the relevant higher-education institution."