‘I had to go without basics just to have money to pay the fee’ – Immigrants hit out at ‘exorbitant’ annual residency card costs

The State collected over €71 million from issuing of migrant registration cards in 2023, the highest ever recorded, and an increase of one-third (€18 million) in a single year.

Every year thousands of people from outside the EU and their family members face a registration fee for living here.

The Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card costs €300 for everyone aged of 18, yet it only costs the State around €20 to produce and deliver each card.

Now cardholders are complaining that the fee is the same for first registration and renewal – as if people legally here are being held to ransom.

Lijie Shao, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland – which has launched a Fair Fees Campaign – said Minister for Justice Helen McEntee “told us last June that the card fee would be reviewed by March 2024”.

“Now we are in May and still paying this exorbitant fee. Its having a huge negative impact on people’s lives,” she said.

This fee doubled in 2012 as an austerity measure and has not been reduced since. It is set much higher than similar fees in other European countries – such as €16 in Greece, €20 in Austria, up to €22 in Spain and €42 in Switzerland.

The fee has generated €318 million for the Exchequer in the last decade, in which time it only cost €22 million to process and deliver the cards.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 2nd May 2024

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 fee. I pay monthly rent of €1,300 on top of bills, food, childcare, medical expenses while also supporting my parents. The IRP card fees always leave us in a big hole financially,” she said.

Neil Bruton of the MRCI said: “The issuing of an IRP card is a simple and inexpensive procedure just like renewing a passport.

“A standard 10-year passport costs €75 and a driving licence costs €55 for first time and renewal and lasts 10 years. Yet the price of an IRP card is much higher and is charged every year.”

He added: “Reducing these fees is the right thing to do and will show that Ireland values students, workers and families who make their home here and contribute so much to our society.”