Refugees will not be allowed to become Irish citizens if they have received welfare payments within a certain time period or if they have any debt, under sweeping new immigration reforms due to be considered by the cabinet this week.
Jim O’Callaghan, the minister for justice, is set to bring three separate memos to cabinet containing a significant overhaul of citizenship and family reunification laws for both international protection applicants and the families of migrants employed in Ireland.
Among the significant policy changes, refugees will now have to be resident in the state for five years instead of three to apply for citizenship. The rules will be further tightened so that the clock on the five-year residency period starts only once the person is granted refugee status, no longer including time spent going through the international protection system before they were approved.
To gain Irish citizenship, people cannot have received state benefits for the two years prior to their application
KINGA KRZEMINSKA/GETTY IMAGES
Refugees and other applicants who want to become citizens will also have to prove they are self- sufficient. Under new rules, the applicant must not have been in receipt of social protection payments in the two years before the citizenship application, with no more than four months of assistance in the previous five years. They must also have no debts owed to the state.
Furthermore, if the applicant has previously lived in Ireland without valid immigration permissions, this could jeopardise their attempts to become a citizen. Future changes may also be made to clarify exactly what is meant by the requirement to be a person of “good character” when becoming a citizen.
It is likely that O’Callaghan will bring forward separate proposals to define the threshold of criminal behaviour that may be accepted to help officials when they are processing applications.
In a second and separate memo, family reunification rules will be significantly tightened, both for non-EEA families of those with employment permits and for international protection applicants who succeed in getting status.
Applicants who received benefits payments within three years of being on the international protection scheme cannot seek family reunification
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For those who have come through the international protection system and who want to be reunited with family members, they will have to prove that they are self-sufficient and have appropriate accommodation available.
If they have been in receipt of social protection payments within three years of the date of the granting of their protection, they will not be entitled to seek family reunification. They will also not be able to seek family reunification if any debt is owed to the state or any commercial provider of asylum seeker accommodation.
For those living in Ireland lawfully with employment permits, a further shake-up is planned.
Family reunification will be limited to immediate family members only. This is defined as spouses and partners, minor children, dependent parents and dependent adult children with a serious medical condition.
It is also expected that applicants will be required to have a minimum income of €92,789 to bring a dependent adult into the country under family reunification, amid concern about the significant extra costs of dependants who are either elderly or who suffer from a serious medical condition.
Government sources said a change to the minimum income requirement of €30,000 to be reunited with a spouse or partner, which had been under consideration, would probably not happen amid concern about its impact on workers in critical sectors of the economy, such as care workers.
Under a third memo, asylum seekers with jobs will be required to pay towards their accommodation under new plans, with the weekly sums being between €15 and €238 or slightly higher.
The three memos in question, which represent a comprehensive overhaul of existing immigration rules, were in train before the UK last week announced a significant overhaul of its immigration laws.
In another policy shift, asylum seekers who have been convicted of serious crimes, or who are considered to be a danger to the state, may have their Irish residency revoked.
Fireworks thrown at riot police after thre nights of anti-immigration demonstrations in Ballymena, Northern Ireland in June
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As part of existing laws, the state can refuse to grant refugee status if the applicant is found to be a danger to the security of the state or has been convicted of a particularly serious crime that represents a danger to the community.
However, the government has not fully transposed an EU law which would also allow authorities to revoke a residence permit for a refugee in those circumstances, which would mean the asylum seeker cannot stay and must face deportation.
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It is understood the number of cases where these powers would be needed will be small, but the government considers it important to have them.
A government source conceded this weekend that the UK’s reforms — which include plans to amend laws that guarantee housing and financial support to asylum seekers — will “absolutely have a knock-on effect” on the number of arrivals to Ireland. Senior officials are particularly concerned that, under EU laws, Ireland cannot match any plans to remove rights around accommodation or benefits.
This is a particular anxiety as the government wants to send out a message that “Ireland’s immigration offering is not more attractive than that of the UK”, a source said.