Immigration

Visa applications for family reunification and essential business needs will begin to be processed again for the first time since January, the government has announced. Justice Minister Heather Humphreys said there would be "some small adjustments" to the priority/emergency list of visas being proce

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to rethink plans to restrict asylum claims from people entering the UK illegally. The UK government confirmed in the Queen's Speech today that it intends to bring legislation to "establish a fairer immigration system that stren

The Burgh Quay registration office is set to reopen for first-time immigration registrations for people living in Dublin on Monday for the first time since December. First-time registrations cannot be done online because the person needs to have their photograph and their fingerprints taken during t

Thousands of people in Ireland will have their immigration status regularised under a proposed scheme announced this afternoon. Under the proposals set out by Justice Minister Helen McEntee, those who have been in the State for four years without a valid immigration permission will be able to apply

Immigration and international protection permissions have been temporarily extended for a further five months. People who held a valid permission to be in the State in March 2020 will be legally permitted to remain until 20 September 2021, even if their Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card has expired

The High Court has granted an order of certiorari against the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation’s refusal to consider an employment permit application for a non-EU national. The key question in the case was whether the applicant was entitled to be considered for an employment pe

Partners of Irish citizens will be able to enter the country and access the job market more quickly under a new preclearance system announced yesterday. The system will enable enable de facto partners of Irish citizens who are nationals of a country from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to a

Plans to phase out the direct provision system of accommodation for asylum seekers by 2024 have been set out by the government in a white paper published this morning. Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman, whose portfolio includes the direct provision system, said the new system will be run "on a no

A High Court judge has criticised the reasoning of the Minister for Justice and Equality in a decision refusing protection for an LGBT asylum seeker. The applicant, known as Mr X, was refused permission to remain in the State despite claiming that he was bisexual and that he would be subjected to pe

Asylum seekers will be able to seek work in Ireland six months after making their application for international protection under new rules announced today. Applicants previously had to wait nine months to apply for permission to work. They will now be able to apply after six months and their permiss

Immigration and international protection permissions have been temporarily extended for a further two months. This is the sixth extension announced by Justice Minister Helen McEntee since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the third described as "final".

A new podcast hosted by a Northern Ireland immigration solicitor is aiming to reclaim the phrase "activist lawyer" in order to fight back against government attacks on the legal profession. Sarah Henry, director of immigration services at Newry-based Granite Immigration Law, launched the Activist La

The Court of Appeal has vacated an Order of the High Court refusing an award of costs in an immigration case where certain documents were delivered one day after a deadline had expired. Background

The immigration registration office in Burgh Quay, Dublin has reopened for first-time registrations following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions. First-time registrations were not possible while the office was closed because of the requirement to take biometrics, i.e. fingerprints, during the p

The Home Office's widely-condemned "hostile environment" measures breached equality law with particular impact on black members of the Windrush generation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said. The equality watchdog's new assessment highlights that that the negative consequences