The Government is preparing measures to reduce the numbers of international students after a Cabinet committee was told last week that many people are using student visas as a “back door” into employment.
Ministers discussed the issue at the Cabinet committee on migration last week and were told a group of senior officials is “developing options to reduce [the] numbers” of English-language students here.
The meeting was told that in 2024 about 60,000 students from outside the EU/EEA were given permission to come to or remain in Ireland to study. Under the terms of their visas, they are entitled to work 20 hours a week, and 40 hours a week outside of term time.
While this has a “largely positive economic impact”, officials said, “a significant number of international students seek student permissions as a back door into securing employment”, according to briefing papers prepared for Ministers and senior officials.
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The documents also asserted that many of the students concerned “frequently work more than the hours they are permitted”.
“We should not be facilitating employers who wish to employ international students on low pay where those jobs could in some cases otherwise be filled by Irish students or workers. It is likely that wage suppression is caused by the availability of such lower skilled international student labour,” the papers said.
The meeting was also told that growing numbers of international students “also place additional pressure on the private rental sector as well as increasing demand on health services and transport infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless said a new accreditation scheme for English-language schools would involve inspections and immigration spot checks to ensure that they are not operating as “backdoor entry points” for migration.
Lawless told The Sunday Times he believed some schools were simply fronts to allow access to employment for people from overseas who wished to come to Ireland.
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“They may not have done anything legally wrong, and a school might be providing an education in the sense that it has a service available and it has classrooms up and running, but it may be marketing itself, or allowing itself to be marketed by others, as somewhere that’s very easy to sign up to and get into the labour force,” he said.
Lawless said that he expected 50-60 of the 100 language schools currently operating would be accredited under the new scheme.
“I think for schools that don’t pass the test and don’t get accredited, their business model will no longer be viable,” he said.
Reducing the number of English-language students who come to Ireland has been identified by the Government as a tool in reducing the growth in population, which it believes is putting pressure on public services and housing.
There is concern, however, that any measures will “need to be done in a way that retains Ireland’s reputation as a centre for high-quality third-level education and research”, officials said.
“There is also an emphasis in the Programme for Government on seeking to retain graduates in key skill areas.”
