The Minister for Justice is to issue new residency renewal guidelines for parents of Irish-born children who were previously granted residency rights, Metro Éireann has learned. News of the new rules follows weeks of speculation by IBC residency holders as to what procedure the department would follow in renewing their yearly permission to live and work in Ireland when their current permission expires in 2010.
Although the Department of Justice did not indicate what the new guidelines might contain, there are fears that due to the state of the economy, new conditions would be introduced that would make renewal difficult.
Some IBC/05 holders also fear that the department may introduce some kind of residency fee.
In the past, one of the main conditions for renewal of permission is that the “the applicant must have resided continuously in the State since granted permission to remain, allowing for reasonable periods of absence from the State for holidays, exceptional family circumstances or commitments outside the State arising from business or employment carried on within the State.
Any given applicant must also “have been living with his/her Irish-born child as part of a family unit” or “must have taken an active role in the upbringing of the Irish born child” since being granted residency under the IBC?scheme.
