The Immigrant Council of Ireland has condemned a new law preventing international students from having their children in Ireland, with Chief Executive Denise Charlton calling it a 'sledgehammer to crack a walnut' approach.

Erin and Aidan Britton in Galway. Photo:Andrew Downes

The situation is resonant of last year's case in which an American woman studying in NUI, Galway, was almost deported because her son was attending a State school without permission. Erin Britton was refused permission to renew her visa because of the new legislation.

"Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform officials have been cited as saying this latest policy is necessary to prevent people coming to Ireland for the sole purpose of obtaining a free education for their children – yet no statistics have been provided to show how big a problem this is, or even if it really exists," Ms Charlton said.

"It would seem highly unlikely that someone looking to leave their own country for the sole purpose of educating their children elsewhere would choose to do this on a student visa.

A spokesperson for NUI, Galway told the Galway Independent that the college was aware of the new regulations and would do everything it could to assist and support international students both pre and post arrival, but "we must abide by the government regulations and must ensure that prospective student parents have comprehensive information of these requirements before making the decision to travel to Ireland."

The college has received clarification from the local Garda National Immigration Bureau on the new stipulation from the Department of Justice that students "will not be registered unless the placement of the child in education has been expressly approved in writing by the Department of Education and Science or the Department of Justice, Equality and Law".

"The GNIB has informed us that student parents, accompanied by their children (of whatever age), will be stopped at the port of entry in Ireland and refused permission to land, unless they have written permission from the Irish Embassy in their home country to do so before departure for Ireland. This permission to land with their children, would be given by the Embassy based on individual family circumstances," said a college spokesperson.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment