Visas & Immigration (2024)

• If you are from a country which is part of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) & Switzerland, you do not need a visa to travel to Ireland.
  
• If you are from a country which is not part of the EU, EEA & Switzerland, then you will need to check if you need a visabefore travelling to Ireland.
  
• If you need a visa, you must apply for your visa before travelling to Ireland.
  
• If you plan to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days, you must also register with immigration after you arrive in Ireland to be issued with your Student Visa.
  
• If you do not require a visa to travel to Ireland, you will still need to register with immigration after you arrive to Ireland if you plan to stay for more than 90 days.

Documents to support your Student Visa application

Here is a summary of some of the key requirements (the full list of requirements can be found here):

• You must provide a letter of acceptance from a school, college or university which has courses on the Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP)

***NOTE: You need to check that the course you are interested in is on the ILEP. If you choose a course that is not on the ILEP your visa will be refused!***

• Evidence that you have paid the course fees (currently you an not expected to pay more than €6000 before your visa has been approved).
• Evidence that you have sufficient funds to support yourself while studying in Ireland. You will need to show that you or your sponsor have access to €7000 -the current estimated cost of living in Ireland for a student for one academic year.

***NOTE: You must explain where the money in your bank account has come from - personal savings, a loan, a sponsor etc***

• Evidence of private medical insurance. Learn more
• A passport valid for at least 12 months after your proposed arrival date.

Student Holidays

The Irish immigration service operates standardised holiday periods duringwhich non-EEA students with a Stamp 2 permission can work full-time. These apply for all types of course - from English language to PhD.

The two periods of the year allowed for full time work reflect the traditional summer and winter college holidays for academic programmes. These are currently defined as:

Summer: 1 June to 30 September (4 months)
Winter: 15 December to 15 January (1 month)

Full-time work means up to 40 hours per week. At all other times, a limit of 20 working hours per week applies.

Under immigration regulations, total holidays can never exceed one third of the period since the start of a course. A request to vary college holidays should always be made in writing (e.g. email). The written agreement of the college is required, and any such arrangements should be part of the study timetable issued to a student to register with the immigration service at the start of the course.

English Language Students

Advice from the immigration service makes clear that non-EEA students can only take holidays during an English course if the dates are part of their agreed timetable. This means that a student who would like to take a short holiday during their course should first get agreement in writing when they book their course.

Students should be aware that there is no requirement for English language schools to allow such holiday requests at the time of booking, and some may not have the flexibility to do so.

Back to INFO & ADVICE