The Minister for Justice has announced that from the 8th of July 2024, Irish immigration registration requirements for non-EEA/EU nationals residing in Cork and Limerick are being transferred from the Garda National Immigration Bureau to the Immigration Service Delivery Registration Office.

This means that persons residing in Cork or Limerick will no longer attend a district headquarters Garda Station to register immigration permissions and will now register in person at the Registration Office at Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 or online using the Immigration Service Delivery Portal.

First Time Registration

Residents of Cork and Limerick registering immigration permissions for the first time will be required to attend the Registration Office located 13-14 Burth Quay, Dublin 2. Attendance is strictly appointment based only.

Appointments can be booked using the FREEPHONE number 1800-800-360. Operators are available to take bookings between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

Renewal of Immigration Permissions

Non-EU/EEA nationals residing in Cork or Limerick will from the 8th of July use the Immigration Service Delivery online portal for renewals of their permission to remain or change to a Stamp category, for example changing from a Stamp 1G to Stamp 1 after the grant of an employment permit.

Persons will be required to set up an account with the ISD and applications will be accepted up to 12 weeks prior to the expiry date of their current residence permissions.

Instructions on using the ISD portal are available here.

Sinnott Solicitors Analysis of the Changes

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork are delighted to see the changes in circumstances where many of our clients have waited up to five months for an appointment to register recently. We spoke about the problems with Cork city immigration registrations in a recent Irish examiner article which highlighted the issue.

The extension of the online renewal procedure for residents of Cork and Limerick is a progressive and welcome development as it will facilitate a much easier and stress-free renewal process for those effected.

With respect to first registrations, whilst transferring responsibilities to the Dublin Registration Office will avoid wait times of five months for appointments, we suggest it would be appropriate long term to have a Department of Justice regional registration office based in Cork or Limerick city to deal with first registrations of Munster residents.

Cork is a very large county and Sinnott Solicitors have many clients residing in the most Western parts of same. For example, the return trip from Castletownbere to the Burgh Quay Registration Office for a fisherman granted a first employment permit would take 9 hours plus to complete.

The final transfer of the registration system to the Department of Justice is expected to be complete in early 2025. The addition of Cork and Limerick is another positive step towards the finalisation of same.

The full announcement of Justice McEntee can be read here.

Our specialist team of Immigration Solicitors and Immigration Consultants located in our Dublin and Cork offices are experts on all Irish immigration matters. Should you have any queries with respect to any of the information contained in this article or any other immigration matter, do not hesitate to contact our immigration department in Dublin or Cork today on 014062862 or info@sinnott.ie.