Migrants’ Calls to Reduce Immigration Fees Ignored

Last week Minister for Finance Jack Chambers announced a range of generous measures as part of Budget 2025. However, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), of which Columban Fr Bobby Gilmore was a founding member, has warned that no reduction in the €300 Irish Residence Permission (IRP) card fee charged to migrants was included.

Mina Benyamine, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) Fair Fees campaign responded to the omission by saying, “We are shocked to see absolutely no reduction in this extortionate and unfair fee. The Minister for Justice committed to a review last year and we cannot see how the government can justify keeping the fee the same when we understand they have a budget surplus of well over €20 billion.”

Every year thousands of people from outside the EU and their family members face this registration fee, just for living here. The Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card costs €300 for everyone over the age of 18, yet it has been shown that it only costs the state €20.50 to produce and deliver each card*. The fee is the same for first time registration and renewal.

This fee doubled in 2012 as an austerity measure and has remained the same ever since. This increase came at a time when Ireland had a budget deficit of over €18 billion.

The fee is much higher than similar fees in other European countries. The fee generated €71 million** in income for the Department of Justice in 2023 alone.

Fair Fees group member Kareshma Sookharry, originally from Mauritius, who works as a catering assistant said, “It is always hard for me as a single mother to find any extra money for the IRP card. There were times when we have to go without basics just to have money to pay the IRP fee. I was so hopeful for a reduction and now I am feeling so upset to hear it will stay the same.”

There is strong public support for a reduction of this fee. An independent poll carried out with Ireland Thinks during the month of July showed that 88% of people believe a fee of less than €100 is fair and reasonable for a migrant to have to pay for a residence permit card, instead of the €300 euro they are currently forced to pay every year.

Neil Bruton, Co Director with MRCI said, “The issuing of an IRP card is a simple and inexpensive procedure just like renewing a passport. This fee could easily have been reduced to a fairer and more reasonable level by the Minister for Justice”.

Bruton concluded “Reducing these fees was the right thing to do and we are astonished the government has decided to ignore the calls of migrant workers, student and families. This was an opportunity to show, in a meaningful way, that Ireland values those who make their home here and contribute so much to our society. Instead, migrants have been left out and will remain forced to pay this unfair fee”

Notes:
*Costs to the state to produce and deliver all cards over 10-year period and cost per individual card revealed via Parliamentary Question No. 273 of 30 March 2023.
**Last year’s income figure of €71million revealed via PQ no. 803

Comparison with other countries