Thousands of People are Still Moving to Ireland

Moving to Ireland is still a choice made by many thousands of people.

Ireland’s non-Irish population makes up 12% of the total population (about  544,000 people.) The majority are from EU countries.

In 2013, approximately 166,000 new applications (i.e. visa, residence, protection and citizenship) were received by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS).


The 2013 year end estimate of non-EEA nationals with permission to remain in Ireland is approximately 120,000. The majority of persons with permission to remain in the State are here for work or study purposes.
The current top 6 registered nationalities  are India (11%), Brazil (10%), China (9%), Nigeria (8%), USA (6%) and Philippines (6%).

Visas
 Approximately 95,000 entry visa applications were received in 2013, an increase of 8% on 2012 and a cumulative increase of 14% on 2011. The approval rate for entry visa applications was 91%.

The top 5 nationalities applying for visas for Ireland  in 2013 were India (16%), Russia (15%), China (11%), Nigeria (6%) and Turkey (5%).

Students
The total number of non-EEA students registered to study or train in Ireland at the end of 2013 was approximately 39,600. This is one third of all the non-EEA nationals with permission to remain in the Ireland.


Of these students - 39% of students are in  Higher Education (Degree Programmes) , 21% are engaged in further education (non Degree) courses, 27% are taking language courses and 13% other (e.g. secondary school).

International Protection and Asylum
Provisional figures indicate that 946 applications for asylum were submitted in 2013. The equivalent figure for 2012 was 956. The comparative figure in 2002, when the volume of asylum applications was at a peak, was 11,600.