The Immigration Service Delivery has been receiving queries from Non-EEA nationals who have received court documents stating that they are citizens of an EU country.
However, as these non-EEA nationals do not yet have an EU passport they must therefore rely on their Irish granted immigration permission to remain legally resident in the State.
An immigration permission granted to a Non-EEA national while resident in Ireland is dependent on the person’s reason for being in the State. If, for example, a person is in the State to study they will be granted a Stamp 2 immigration permission. This immigration permission is only issued where a student is actively studying and progressing along the student pathway and complying with the published student conditions.
A Stamp 2 immigration permission is not issued for matters of a personal nature, such as acquiring citizenship in another country. Similarly a person on a Stamp 1 immigration permission is granted that permission to work in the state having previously been granted an employment permit by the Department of Enterprise trade and Employment.
If a person on either a Stamp 2 or Stamp 1 is not continuing to study or to work then they will not be issued with a renewal or a further immigration permission and consequently if they do not have an in date immigration permission they have no entitlement to remain in the State and should make arrangements to leave the State.
If a non-EEA national who has court documents stating that they are a citizen of an EU country but they do not have an EU passport, confirming that status, they should contact their national embassy for assistance and ensure that they keep their Irish immigration permission up to date while they wait on their EU passport to be issued.
Finally, please note that Immigration Services will not provide an immigration permission to a non-EEA national while they wait for their EU national passport to be issued.