Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 January 2026
187. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of Irish immigration residence permissions issued to students pursuing educational courses in the State in each of the past five years, by type of educational course, university, or English language school, by country of origin, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4537/26]
View answer188. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of Irish immigration residence permissions issued to students pursuing educational courses which have been terminated in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4538/26]
View answer189. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of incidences of students holding an immigration stamp 2 permission that have been found to be in breach of the restrictions on working hours (20 hours per week during term time) for each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4539/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 187, 188 and 189 together.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to publish a National Migration and Integration Strategy detailing how the Government intends to meet the demands and opportunities facing Ireland’s society and economy over the next decade. My Department is currently working with other Government Departments to develop this strategy with the aim to publish it this year.
As part of this strategic approach, I am reviewing the area of student permissions, including with regard to English Language students. This work is aimed at ensuring that the system remains robust and rules-based, supports high-quality education providers, and continues to offer a positive experience for genuine students coming to Ireland.
I can advise the Deputy that international students from outside the EU/EEA are granted a residence permission on Stamp 2 conditions where they have enrolled on, and commenced a course listed on the Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP), or eligible programmes offered by providers with authorisation to use the new TrustEd Education mark awarded by the Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).
ILEP is currently being superseded by TrustEd Ireland, the international education mark launched in September 2024 by QQI and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. TrustEd Ireland is a new statutory quality mark and part of a suite of legislative measures designed to further protect international learners.
Once the ILEP is discontinued, only education providers which are granted authorisation to use the TrustEd Ireland mark provided by QQI will be eligible to recruit non-EU/EEA students to English language programmes, foundation programmes and higher education programmes leading to awards within the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).
The new mark will be awarded to higher education and English language education providers who have demonstrated that they meet national standards to ensure a quality experience for international learners from pre-enrolment through to the completion of their programme of education and training.
All education providers listed on the ILEP are required to maintain attendance records and this is a key criterion under ILEP. They must have clear systems in place for the recording of attendance and clearly outline the rules on punctuality and the related penalties. Such records must be available for inspection by, or submission to, the Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) of my Department at any time.
Any education provider may be subject to unannounced inspections, on-line monitoring, or random spot checks to ensure its compliance with ILEP criteria, and this includes the maintenance of records and reports. These may be requested by ISD at any time and failure to do so can result in the removal of a provider from the ILEP.
If a student is expelled, withdraws, or fails to attend, all ILEP providers are required to notify ISD. In August 2025, my Department communicated with all ILEP listed English Language providers seeking their agreement in respect of data sharing for the purpose of processing student residence permissions. All providers intending to recruit non-EEA national students replied positively and in agreement.
Where students have not complied with the conditions of their Stamp 2 permission, in terms of course attendance and progression, they may be subject to revocation of that residence status.
The primary purpose of the Stamp 2 is to provide opportunities for study in Ireland. All applicants must show that they have sufficient funds to support their stay in Ireland without recourse to public funds, or the reliance on casual employment. Stamp 2 holders may, however, engage in casual employment for a maximum of 20 hours per week during school term and 40 hours per week during holidays.
Statistics are not available on the number of students who have had their immigration permission terminated for breaching the conditions of the scheme.
My Department holds information regarding the number of people registered at each particular educational institution, but this is not published as this could be considered commercially sensitive.
The table below shows a breakdown of the nationality of those granted a Stamp 2 student permission by my Department over the previous 5 years.
Stamp 2 permissions issued by nationality and year from 2021 to 2025
|
|
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Brazilian |
7,143 |
16,235 |
18,058 |
15,317 |
15,077 |
|
Indian |
5,334 |
6,924 |
8,927 |
12,214 |
10,712 |
|
Chinese |
2,507 |
3,451 |
4,176 |
4,663 |
4,218 |
|
American |
1,838 |
2,269 |
2,565 |
2,648 |
2,421 |
|
Canadian |
1,290 |
1,382 |
1,434 |
1,690 |
1,408 |
|
Mexican |
1,194 |
3,227 |
3,738 |
3,607 |
3,856 |
|
Malaysian |
990 |
1,313 |
1,342 |
1,392 |
1,131 |
|
Turkish |
927 |
2,676 |
1,931 |
971 |
463 |
|
Nigerian |
791 |
841 |
847 |
860 |
672 |
|
Kuwaiti |
605 |
782 |
840 |
821 |
651 |
|
Chilean |
475 |
2,495 |
2,445 |
2,123 |
2,079 |
|
Pakistani |
376 |
519 |
783 |
1,072 |
1,472 |
|
Bolivian |
321 |
1,205 |
1,968 |
918 |
334 |
|
Mongolian |
197 |
1,195 |
1,884 |
2,227 |
2,441 |
|
All others |
4,729 |
8,331 |
9,944 |
10,378 |
9,577 |
|
Total |
28,717 |
52,845 |
60,882 |
60,901 |
56,512 |
*Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing.
** These figures reflect the people, or unique individuals, required to register or renew their immigration permission in a calendar year. Most renewals are annual, however, there may be students that were required to register/renew multiple times in the same calendar year, such as English Language students. Therefore, these numbers per year should not be summed to an overall total but rather reflect the number of unique individuals required to register or renew in that calendar year.
