Legal status for illegal or undocumented immigrants in Ireland
Ireland to provide legal status to those who have been living in the country without any visa. The so-called amnesty scheme is planned to start at the end of 2021 that will allow almost 20,000 undocumented foreigners to be granted residence permits or legal status. The minister of Justice, McEntee has outlined a draft scheme to regularise undocumented migrants to Cabinet. The eligible people will also be able to have access to work and a pathway to citizenship. After opening, the scheme will run for 6 months.
According to the draft of the minister, the eligible people under this scheme will:
- Have a period of 4 years residence in the State without immigration permission or 3 years in the case of those with children;
- Be granted immigration permission that allows for unrestricted access to the labor market; and
- Have years of residence with that permission reckonable for the purposes of pursuing citizenship by way of naturalization
She also said,
“There are thousands of people across the country who have created a life here but unfortunately still live in the legal shadows. They are active members of our communities: contributing to our society, enriching our culture, and working in our economy. I firmly believe that we in Ireland must show the same generosity towards undocumented migrants living in our country as we ask other countries, particularly the United States, to show Irish people who have built a life elsewhere but who are still undocumented in their new homes”.
There will be a webinar with the stakeholder, trade unions, employment centers, NGO’s and other organizations for consulting the draft. According to the Justice Ministry, the scheme is administrative and not statuary, so the application receiving will be time-limited. The ministry is ready to receive the applications once the scheme starts for a maximum time of 6 months.
Recent research from the Migrants Right Council of Ireland (MRCI) and Justice for the Undocumented (JFU) shows that over three-quarters of undocumented migrants surveyed have been living in Ireland for five years or more.
The new scheme will help almost 17,000 undocumented people in Ireland. A quarter of the migrants receive less than the legal wages threshold and they work access to 40 hours per week. They have been living in the country with their families and almost all employed. The legalization process will not help to bring these people into the government’s record but also increase the tax and revenue. The crime rate will decrease and the children of these people will have a safe future too.
-Files from Umer Rasib, visa-guru.com, and Ministry of Justice Ireland