Charity urges action on legal residency rulings

A charity that empowers migrants to realise and fulfill their rights has urged the Department of Justice to continue its efforts to process applicants awaiting a life-changing decision on their permission to stay in Ireland.

Some applicants of the regularisation of long-term undocumented migrant scheme have yet to receive a decision on whether or not they have been granted permission by the department to remain in the country. The deadline for applications was July 31 , with 6,548 applications for 8,311 persons.

To date, 4,580 decisions have been issued, of which 4,443 (97%) are positive, 94 (2%) are negative decisions, and 43 (1%) applications have been withdrawn by the applicants for various reasons.

Nasc, a charity working with migrants and refugees to advocate and lead for change in the immigration and protection systems to ensure fairness, access to justice and the protection of human rights, called on the department to continue its efforts to process the applications.

Speaking to The Echo, a Nasc spokesperson said: “We would urge the relevant department to continue its efforts to process the applications, as it is an anxious and difficult time for those who are waiting since the closing date in July.

“We understand that there are some delays with the garda vetting element of the process. We hope that the remaining decisions will be issued soon, as receiving a permission under the scheme can be life-changing for those impacted, allowing them to move to the next stage of their lives in Ireland.”

Since the scheme closed in July, 4,580 people have had a decision on their application.

The Department of Justice confirmed to The Echo that 3,731 people are yet to receive any decision. On July 26, the department confirmed that over 7,200 people had applied to the scheme ahead of the deadline of July 31.

Of those 7,200 people, more than 1,450 people had been given the life-changing news that they had been granted legal permission to remain in Ireland.

Two months later, on September 22, the Department of Justice confirmed that it had received a total of 6,548 applications in respect of 8,311 persons under the scheme and that 2,521 decisions had been issued of which 97.3% were positive.