Ireland’s immigration and visa approach moves towards digitalisation

It comes amid a global trend of digitalisation in the immigration and visa sphere, with artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and biometric recognition at the forefront of new border security and immigration measures.

Read more on the global digitalisation of border security, and immigration status

• Digital advancement at forefront of UK immigration law developments
• Singapore utilises digital advancements for immigration and border measures

Amongst the digital advancements, Ireland is going to develop a new single permit system for employment permits. A single application will be introduced with the new system to incorporate further digitalisation into the application process.

The new system aims to eliminate backlogs across all immigration types. This will be necessary as one of the objectives under goal 4 of Ireland’s 2023 Justice Plan is to maintain the 25% increase in immigration applications. Another objective under goal 4 is to develop a fully digital, customer-centric immigrations service. One of the overarching goals for the Department of Justice is to deliver a fair immigration system for a digital age.

An ambitious multi-year programme will replace legacy immigration management systems, introducing a single view, on a single platform, of an individual’s engagement with all aspects of immigration services, significantly improved customer service capacity with comprehensive self-service functionality, and enhanced border security capability and capacity. Upon completion, the goal is that the department will have realised its strategic objective of an immigration service fit for a digital age. Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) will continue to use the Immigration NGO Forum and the Economic Migration Employer User Forum to engage with, identify and resolve significant customer service issues on immigration matters.

On 24 October, minister Helen McEntee announced the launch of a new online self-service immigration portal, the Digital Contact Centre (DCC). The DCC will enable immigration applicants to book and amend first-time registration appointments, removing the need for them to call a contact centre directly. Further, the DCC will allow people to check the status of their applications, and eventually will allow people to raise queries concerning visas, registration, domestic residence permissions, travel documents, EU treaty rights and citizenship applications. In Ireland’s 2025 Budget, an additional €25 million has been allocated for investment in the immigration system as a whole which should see some further digital enhancements.

The Justice Plan 2023 prioritises delivering a fair immigration system. The objectives are to ensure ‘digital first’ delivery of immigration and International Protection Services, to ensure that immigration and protection decisions are delivered in a timely manner and to make sure immigration customers are supported and have their rights upheld. The plan also provides for implementation of modern border control systems, which support legal immigration and prevent irregular immigration while responding humanely to humanitarian crises and working with other departments to develop a strategic migration policy which proactively meets the needs of society and the economy. The proposed outcome of this plan is that there will be modernised, digitalised immigration service delivery. The recent announcement of the DCC is a clear example of how Ireland is moving towards a more modernised, digitalised immigration service.

Ireland will also make changes to online renewals, with effect from 4 November. Online renewals of permissions from all applicants nationwide should be submitted using the ISD online renewal portal.

Applicants will not need to attend the Burgh Quay Registration Office in Dublin in person to renew an immigration permission unless it is deemed necessary. In a bid to ensure an equitable service delivery, applications will be processed in the order in which they are received with applicants able to check in via live processing updates while online renewals are being processed. This will make the process more streamlined and easier for applicants to keep tabs on the stage of the application.