The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today published a set of proposals to reform student immigration from outside the EU.
A public consultation process on the issue has been launched.
The discussion document drawn up by Mr Ahern, in consultation with a number of other Government departments, contains more than 20 specific proposals, including capping the length of time a person can spend in Ireland as a student, introducing a two tier system to facilitate the targeting of incentives towards the upper end of the academic spectrum, a tighter inspection regime, possible changes in respect of visas and new guidelines on work placement or internship.
Some transitional measures are set out for those already in the system.
Issues surrounding the ability of these students to take up paid employment will be the subject of a separate review.
Mr Ahern said today a ‘fresh look’ needed to be taken at how students from outside the EU are dealt with.
“International education is a vital industry with significant growth potential and we will only achieve that potential by having a visibly strong regulatory environment," he said.
"The vast majority of our service providers offer a quality product and it is everyone’s interest to root out those who do not or who engage in abuses of the system. From an immigration perspective we also have to be satisfied that people coming to Ireland do so for a genuine purpose and comply with any conditions applicable to their stay.”
The new proposals envisage that students should, with limited exceptions, spend no more than five years in Ireland as a student overall, with a limit of two years in further education or English language courses.
Details of how to make submissions on the draft proposals are on the Department of Justice website.
The final date for receipt of submissions is Friday, October 9th 2009.