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International students adversely affected by immigration policy in Ireland

Donal Thornton,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, December 14, 2009, 7:55 AM

Updated Monday, December 14, 2009, 8:15 AM

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The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emer Costello, said that the Irish Government's immigration policy is blocking foreign students from attending college in Ireland.

Speaking at the international student gathering at Mansion House in Dublin, the Mayor said that over 40 per cent of applications from Chinese students are refused and 50 per cent of Turkish applications are turned down.

Britain currently approves over 95 per cent of Chinese applications and 90 per cent of all Turkish applicants. The vast majority of applicants were accepted by Irish colleges before the Irish government refused their student visas.

“While vigilance at our borders and entry points is essential, we should be able to develop a rational way of welcoming international students who have been accepted for entry into university and higher education courses,” said Mayor Costello.

Most Irish colleges encourage applications from outside the European Union (EU). They are highly sought after as they pay massive student fees and are used by colleges to plug gaps in their annual budgets.

“International students from countries outside of the EU contribute over €500 ($732) million annually to the Irish economy. It’s a growing and important market, and Dublin needs to get its share. Melbourne, a similar-sized city to Dublin, earns over €2 ($2.9) billion annually from the same market,” continued Costello.

In 2004, a government report highlighted the international education sector as one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world. The report also said that Ireland had established a firm base and played an important role in the sector.

The Mayor said that the immigration process was making it more difficult for students to enter Ireland. It is believed that 15 jobs are supported for every 100 foreign students in Dublin.

The Mayor said that between the Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College in Dublin, international students support over 214 jobs and contribute more than $20 ($29.3) million to the local economy.

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plasticpaddy | Dec 23, 2009, 12:58 PM EST

business men take advantage of foreign nationls paying substandard wages, maybe if the minimum wage was raised to a decent level then Irish people might want these jobs more. I must stress though that I do not believe the student visas are being used as you suggest simply because these English schools are not institutions recognised by the government as educational institutes eligible for sponsoring student visas.

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plasticpaddy | Dec 23, 2009, 12:56 PM EST

No offence meant kickstar but you really have it wrong, you need to be a full time student in a college or university to get a students visa, or sulltime in secondary school, the scenario you paint simply isnt the case. I'm not saying the restaraunters don't do what youre saying, just that it is not linked to student visas. I won't call you a racist but rather try to understand your point and argue against what i see as incorrect. I do agree with the point that unscrupulous...

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plasticpaddy | Dec 23, 2009, 12:53 PM EST

I agree Irelands immigration practices are insane, but you do realise we have 48% less foreign nationals in Ireland since 2004 (http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/number-of-foreign-nationals-in-ireland-down-48-since-2004-439406.html).

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plasticpaddy | Dec 23, 2009, 12:52 PM EST

kickstar - you ralise this article is about srudents and not workers right?

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kickstar | Dec 21, 2009, 03:52 AM EST

Plasticpaddy I don't know where you are but I live half my time in Ireland there are houses where I live with upwards of 50 people in each 2 bedroom house, Now is this young students trying to live as cheaply as possible so as they can party more?...Nope what this is is a bunch of non EU citizens who have been brought into Ireland by greedy restaurant owners of the same nationality to work as Slaves and are packed into houses they own so they can afford to live on the pittance they're paid, But because we cannot even begin to discuss Ireland's insane immigration practices without being immediately branded a Racist we certainly are never going to close these Bogus English Schools and so the flow keeps going, Some of these Restaurant owners sell these staff on to other Restaurants in the EC mostly Britain, But it all starts off with an innocent application for a students Visa. The UK's Border agency have reported thousands of bogus illegal immigrants who have come to Britain via NI after entering the Republic as phony English language students. Also it is the organized crime gangs such as the Triads 三合会 who are responsible for a lot of this Chaos.But it is much easier to brand people who comment on these events as Racists than take the sort of actions that is required for the Irish people to take back the control of their Nation.What people fail to realize is that the jobs these people are doing are jobs that should be filled by EU Nationals thus reducing unemployment, And before anyone starts jumping up and down Saying that these are jobs that we wont do, If these greedy Employers could not fill these vacancies then they would have to pay more money to attract us to do these jobs, So in very many ways there is suffering in this system not least for those who are forced to work as slaves and live in a house like the proverbial sardine.

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plasticpaddy | Dec 15, 2009, 12:41 AM EST

students - pay fees, rent and mostly can't work anyway/

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IrishAndProud | Dec 14, 2009, 03:25 PM EST

I might add that particularly now -- with Ireland in a very deep economic slump, and many Irish now leaving Ireland, again -- it's not the time to be encouraging more foreigners to settle there. Irish jobs should be for Irish people first. Now's not the time to be making Ireland less Irish (as if any time is good).

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kickstar | Dec 14, 2009, 11:34 AM EST

The reason the whole thing was tightened up in the first place was because of the number of bogus foreign students entering the EU particularly Britain through Ireland which was seen as a soft touch for a long time.

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