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The text of the Immigration Act, 1999 of Ireland. The act makes provisions for the control of non-nationals, amends the Aliens Act, 1935, and the Refugee Act, 1996, and covers related matters such as deportation, appeals, and the establishment of the Tribunal. It outlines the powers of the Minister in relation to non-nationals and the procedures for their removal from the State.
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Number 22 of 1999
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IMMIGRATION ACT, 1999
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
Acts Referred to
Aliens Act, 1935 1935, No. 14
Child Care Act, 1991 1991, No. 17
Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956 1956, No. 45
Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 1956, No. 46
Civil Service Regulation Acts, 1956 to 1996
Refugee Act, 1996 1996, No. 17
Deportation orders.
(2) If subsection (1) would, but for this subsection, conflict with a constitutional right of any person, the operation of that subsection shall be subject to such limitation as is necessary to secure that it does not so conflict but shall be otherwise of full force and effect.
3. —(1) Subject to the provisions of section 5 (prohibition of refoulement ) of the Refugee Act, 1996, and the subsequent pro- visions of this section, the Minister may by order (in this Act referred to as ‘‘a deportation order’’) require any non-national specified in the order to leave the State within such period as may be specified in the order and to remain thereafter out of the State.
(2) An order under subsection (1) may be made in respect of—
( a ) a person who has served or is serving a term of imprison- ment imposed on him or her by a court in the State,
( b ) a person whose deportation has been recommended by a court in the State before which such person was indicted for or charged with any crime or offence,
( c ) a person who has been required to leave the State under Regulation 14 of the European Communities (Aliens) Regulations, 1977 (S.I. No. 393 of 1977),
( d ) a person to whom Regulation 19 of the European Com- munities (Right of Residence for Non-Economically Active Persons) Regulations, 1997 (S.I. No. 57 of 1997) applies,
( e ) a person whose application for asylum has been transferred to a convention country for examination pursuant to section 22 of the Refugee Act, 1996,
( f ) a person whose application for asylum has been refused by the Minister,
( g ) a person to whom leave to land in the State has been refused,
( h ) a person who, in the opinion of the Minister, has contra- vened a restriction or condition imposed on him or her in respect of landing in or entering into or leave to stay in the State,
( i ) a person whose deportation would, in the opinion of the Minister, be conducive to the common good.
(3) ( a ) Subject to subsection (5) , where the Minister proposes to make a deportation order, he or she shall notify the per- son concerned in writing of his or her proposal and of the reasons for it and, where necessary and possible, the per- son shall be given a copy of the notification in a language that he or she understands.
( b ) A person who has been notified of a proposal under para- graph (a) may, within 15 working days of the sending of the notification, make representations in writing to the Minister and the Minister shall—
(i) before deciding the matter, take into consideration any representations duly made to him or her under this paragraph in relation to the proposal, and
(ii) notify the person in writing of his or her decision and of the reasons for it and, where necessary and poss- ible, the person shall be given a copy of the notifi- cation in a language that the person understands.
(4) A notification of a proposal of the Minister under subsection (3) shall include—
( a ) a statement that the person concerned may make represen- tations in writing to the Minister within 15 working days of the sending to him or her of the notification,
( b ) a statement that the person may leave the State before the Minister decides the matter and shall require the person to so inform the Minister in writing and to furnish the Minister with information concerning his or her arrange- ments for leaving,
( c ) a statement that the person may consent to the making of the deportation order within 15 working days of the send- ing to him or her of the notification and that the Minister shall thereupon arrange for the removal of the person from the State as soon as practicable, and
( d ) any other information which the Minister considers appro- priate in the circumstances.
(5) The provisions of subsection (3) shall not apply to—
( a ) a person who has consented in writing to the making of a deportation order and the Minister is satisfied that he or she understands the consequences of such consent,
( b ) a person to whom paragraph (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (2) applies, or
( c ) a person who is outside the State.
(6) In determining whether to make a deportation order in relation to a person, the Minister shall have regard to—
( a ) the age of the person;
( b ) the duration of residence in the State of the person;
( c ) the family and domestic circumstances of the person;
( d ) the nature of the person’s connection with the State, if any;
( e ) the employment (including self-employment) record of the person;
( f ) the employment (including self-employment) prospects of the person;
( g ) the character and conduct of the person both within and (where relevant and ascertainable) outside the State (including any criminal convictions);
( h ) humanitarian considerations;
( i ) any representations duly made by or on behalf of the person;
( j ) the common good; and
5. —(1) Where an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Sı´ocha´ na, with reasonable cause, suspects that a person against whom a deportation order is in force has failed to comply with any provision of the order or with a requirement in a notice under section 3(3)(b)(ii) , he or she may arrest him or her without warrant and detain him or her in a prescribed place.
(2) A person arrested and detained under subsection (1) may be placed on a ship, railway train, road vehicle or aircraft about to leave the State by an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Sı´och- a´ na, and shall be deemed to be in lawful custody whilst so detained and until the ship, railway train, road vehicle or aircraft leaves the State.
(3) The master of any ship and the person in charge of any railway train, road vehicle or aircraft bound for any place outside the State shall, if so required by an immigration officer or a member of the Garda Sı´ocha´ na, receive a person against whom a deportation order has been made and his or her dependants, if any, on board such ship, railway train, road vehicle or aircraft and afford him or her and his or her dependants proper accommodation and maintenance during the journey.
(4) ( a ) Subsection (1) shall not apply to a person who is under the age of 18 years.
( b ) If and for so long as the immigration officer or, as the case may be, the member of the Garda Sı´ocha´ na concerned has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is not under the age of 18 years, the provisions of subsection (1) shall apply as if he or she had attained the age of 18 years.
( c ) Where an unmarried child under the age of 18 years is in the custody of any person (whether a parent or a person acting in loco parentis or any other person) and such per- son is detained pursuant to the provisions of this section, the immigration officer or the member of the Garda Sı´ocha´ na concerned shall, without delay, notify the health board for the area in which the person is being detained of the detention and of the circumstances thereof.
(5) Where a person detained under this section institutes court proceedings challenging the validity of the deportation order con- cerned, the court hearing those proceedings or any appeal therefrom may, on application to it, determine whether the person shall con- tinue to be detained or shall be released, and may make any such release subject to such conditions as it considers appropriate, includ- ing, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any one or more of the following conditions:
( a ) that the person reside or remain in a particular district or place in the State,
( b ) that he or she report to a specified Garda Sı´ocha´ na station or immigration officer at specified intervals,
( c ) that he or she surrender any passport or travel document in his or her possession.
(6) ( a ) A person shall not be detained under this section for a period or periods exceeding 8 weeks in aggregate.
Arrest, detention and removal of non-nationals.
Service of notices.
Regulations.
Obstruction etc.
( b ) The following periods shall be excluded in reckoning a period for the purpose of paragraph (a) :
(i) any period during which the person is remanded in custody pending a criminal trial or serving a sentence of imprisonment,
(ii) any period spent by the person on board a ship, rail- way train, road vehicle or aircraft pursuant to this section, and
(iii) if the person has instituted court proceedings chal- lenging the validity of the deportation order con- cerned, any period spent by the person in a place of detention between the date of the institution of the proceedings and the date of their final determination including, where notice of appeal is given, the period between the giving thereof and the final determi- nation of the appeal or any further appeal therefrom or the withdrawal of the appeal or, as appropriate, the expiry of the ordinary time for instituting any such appeal.
6. —Where a notice is required or authorised by or under this Act to be served on or given to a person, it shall be addressed to him or her and shall be served on or given to him or her in some one of the following ways:
( a ) where it is addressed to him or her by name, by delivering it to him or her, or
( b ) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter, or by any other form of recorded delivery service prescribed by the Minister, addressed to him or her at the address most recently furnished by him or her to the Minister or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address.
7. —(1) The Minister may—
( a ) by regulations provide, subject to the provisions of this Act, for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed, and
( b ) in addition to any other power conferred on him or her to make regulations, make regulations generally for the pur- poses of, and for the purpose of giving full effect to, this Act including regulations requiring a non-national against whom a deportation order has been made to repay any expenditure incurred by the Minister in relation to his or her deportation having regard to the financial circumstances of the person and providing for the procedure for such repayment.
(2) Regulations under this Act may contain such incidental, sup- plementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.
8. —(1) A person against whom a deportation order has been made—
writing on the operation in the pre- ceding 2 years of this Act and may include in the report information and comment in respect of asylum policy and refugees including any proposals to amend legislation and recommend- ations regarding the practice or pro- cedures of public or private bodies in relation to applicants and any other matters relating to such operation coming to its attention to which it considers that his or her attention should be drawn and, not later than 1 month after such submission, the Minister shall cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
( b ) The Board shall, at the request of the Minister, prepare and furnish to him or her a report in writing on such mat- ters relating to the performance of its functions as the Minister may specify and as soon as may be after the receipt by the Minister of the report, he or she shall cause a copy of it to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
(5) The Commissioner shall, whenever so requested by the Board, furnish to the Board information in relation to such matters as the Board may specify relating to the performance of its functions.
Subsection (3). SCHEDULE
Refugee Advisory Board
( a ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster nominated by the Minister,
( b ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for Foreign Affairs nominated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
( c ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for Social, Community and Fam- ily Affairs nominated by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs,
( d ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for Education and Science nomi- nated by the Minister for Education and Science,
( e ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for Health and Children nomi- nated by the Minister for Health and Children,
( f ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for the Environment and Local Government nominated by the Mini- ster for the Environment and Local Government,
( g ) one shall be a representative of the Mini- ster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment nominated by the Mini- ster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment,
( h ) six shall be women and six shall be men.
( a ) the desirability of ensuring that a person or persons representative of refugees and applicants is or are appointed to membership of the Board, and
( b ) the person’s interest in or knowledge of asylum and the provision of protec- tion and assistance to refugees or his or her competence otherwise to assist the Board in the performance of its functions.
name of his or her country of origin and such other information as the Minister may specify by notice in writing addressed to the Commissioner.
( b ) The Commissioner shall furnish a copy of the record of any interview under subsec- tion (1)—
(i) to the Minister, and
(ii) to the High Commissioner whenever so requested by him or her in writing.’’,
(iv) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (4):
‘‘(4) An application under subsection (1) shall be made in writing in the prescribed form or in a form to the like effect and shall be addressed to the Com- missioner.’’,
and
(v) the substitution in subsection (5) of the following paragraph for paragraph ( a ):
‘‘( a ) Where it appears to an immigration officer or an authorised officer that a child under the age of 18 years, who has either arrived at the frontiers of the State or has entered the State, is not in the custody of any person, the officer shall, as soon as practicable, so inform the health board in whose functional area the child is and thereupon the provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991, shall apply in relation to the child.’’,
( d ) in section 9, by—
(i) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (3):
‘‘(3) ( a ) The Commissioner shall give or cause to be given to a person referred to in subsection (2) a temporary residence certificate (in this section referred to as ‘a certificate’) stating the name and containing a photograph of the person and such other information relating to the person as may be prescribed and specifying the date on which the per- son’s application for a declaration was received by the Commissioner and stating that, subject to the provisions of this Act, and, without prejudice to any other per- mission or leave granted to the person to remain in the State, the person shall not be removed from the State before the final determination of his or her application.
( b ) A certificate shall remain the property of the Minister.
( c ) A certificate shall be deemed to be a regis- tration certificate for the purposes of Article 15 of the Aliens Order, 1946 (S.R.& O., No. 395 of 1946) and a person who is issued with a certificate shall be deemed to have complied with Article 11(1)( a ) of that Order.
( d ) If a person forges, or fraudulently alters, or assists in forging or fraudulently altering, or procures the forging or fraudulent alter- ation of a certificate, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both.’’,
and
(ii) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (15):
‘‘(15) A person referred to in subsection (1) shall not be given leave to enter the State under that sub- section if he or she is the subject of an order under section 4 of the Immigration Act, 1999 .’’,
( e ) by the insertion after section 9 of the following section:
‘‘Powers of (^) 9A.—(1) An authorised officer or an authorised officers and immigration immigration^ officer^ may,^ for^ the^ pur- officers. (^) poses of this Act, take or cause to be taken the fingerprints of an applicant above the age of 14 years.
(2) An applicant who refuses to per- mit his or her fingerprints to be taken pursuant to subsection (1) shall be deemed not to have made reasonable efforts to establish his or her true identity within the meaning of section 9(8)( c ) and to have deliberately obstructed the inves- tigation of his or her application within the meaning of section 12(4)( f ).
(3) Every fingerprint of an applicant taken pursuant to subsection (1) and every copy thereof shall, if not previously destroyed, be destroyed—
( a ) in case the applicant becomes a citizen of the State, before the expiration of one month after the granting of the cer- tificate of naturalisation or of Irish citizenship to him or her or the acknowledgement by the Minister of the validity of his or her declaration accepting Irish citizenship, as the case may be;
( b ) in any other case, before the expiration of 10 years
11 (other than an application remitted to the Com- missioner under section 16), the Commissioner is of opinion that the application is manifestly unfounded, he or she shall, as soon as may be—
( a ) in case he or she forms the opinion before the interview of the applicant concerned under section 11(2), notify the applicant of his or her opinion (including the reasons for it) and the notice shall require the applicant to attend for interview in accordance with section 11(2) at such time and place as shall be specified in the notice,
( b ) in case he or she forms, or, as the case may be, remains of, the opinion after the inter- view of the applicant concerned under section 11(2) and following consideration of any report furnished under section 11(2) and any representations made under section 11(3), make a recommendation that the applicant concerned should not be declared to be a refugee and shall send a copy of the recommendation and of the reasons for it to—
(i) the applicant,
(ii) the applicant’s solicitor (if known), and
(iii) the High Commissioner.’’,
and
(ii) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (5):
‘‘(5) The Commissioner shall, when sending a copy of the recommendation to the applicant under subsection (1)( b ), at the same time send to the appli- cant a notice in writing stating that the applicant may appeal to the Tribunal under section 16 against the recommendation within 10 working days from the sending of the notice.’’,
( i ) in section 13, by—
(i) the deletion in subsection (1) of ‘‘and shall furnish the report to the Minister’’,
(ii) the substitution of the following subsections for sub- section (2):
‘‘(2) The Commissioner shall notify the High Commissioner of the making of the recommendation under subsection (1).
(3) ( a ) The Commissioner shall send a copy of a report under subsection (1) to the appli- cant concerned, to his or her solicitor (if known) and, if so requested by the High Commissioner, to him or her.
( b ) Where a report under subsection (1) includes a recommendation that the applicant should not be declared to be a refugee, the Commissioner shall send to
the applicant a notice in writing stating that the applicant may appeal to the Tri- bunal under section 16 against the recom- mendation and may request an oral hear- ing within 15 working days from the sending of the notice.
( c ) Where the applicant has not appealed against the recommendation within 21 days after the sending of a notice under paragraph ( b ), the Commissioner shall, as soon as may be, furnish the report under subsection (1) to the Minister.
( d ) Where a report under subsection (1) includes a recommendation that the applicant should be declared to be a refu- gee, the Commissioner, shall as soon as may be, furnish the report to the Minister.’’,
( j ) by the substitution of the following section for section 15:
‘‘15.—(1) On the establishment day there shall stand established a Tribunal to be known as the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (in this Act referred to as ‘the Tribunal’) to consider and decide appeals under section 16 of this Act.
(2) The Tribunal shall be independent in the perform- ance of its functions.
(3) The provisions of the Second Schedule shall have effect in relation to the Tribunal.’,
( k ) in section 16, by—
(i) the substitution for ‘‘Appeal Board’’ of ‘‘Tribunal’’ in subsections (1) to (12) and (16),
(ii) the insertion of the following subsection after subsec- tion (2):
‘‘(2A) Where an applicant fails, without reason- able cause, to attend an oral hearing under subsec- tion (10), the Tribunal shall affirm a recommend- ation of the Commissioner under section 13.’’,
(iii) the substitution in subsection (3) for ‘‘and shall indi- cate’’ of ‘‘and, in the case of a recommendation by the Commissioner under section 13(3)( b ), shall indicate’’,
(iv) the substitution in subsection (4) for ‘‘to the Minister, the Commissioner and the High Commissioner’’ of ‘‘to the Commissioner and notification of the making of the appeal to the High Commissioner’’,
(v) the substitution in subsection (8) for ‘‘solicitor (if known)’’ of ‘‘solicitor (if known) and the High Com- missioner whenever so requested by him or her’’ and for ‘‘furnished to the applicant’’ of ‘‘furnished to the applicant or, as the case may be, the High Com- missioner’’, and
(i) the substitution in subsection (2)( c ) for ‘‘until it has been decided by the person specified in an order under this section’’ of ‘‘until he or she has decided’’,
(ii) the substitution in subsection (2)( d ) for ‘‘which has been referred to the Commissioner under section 8’’ of ‘‘which is being investigated by the Com- missioner’’,
(iii) the substitution in subsection (2)( h ) for ‘‘the referral of an application for asylum to the Commissioner’’ of ‘‘the investigation of an application for asylum by the Commissioner’’,
(iv) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (4):
‘‘(4) ( a ) The Commissioner shall determine the mat- ters referred to in subsection (2)( a ).
( b ) The Tribunal shall consider and decide appeals under subsection (2)( b ).’’,
and
(v) the substitution of the following subsection for sub- section (9):
‘‘(9) ( a ) The Minister shall, pursuant to Article 14 of the Dublin Convention, communicate information to convention countries in relation to matters referred to in that Article.
( b ) The Commissioner shall, pursuant to Article 15 of the Dublin Convention, communicate information to convention countries in relation to matters referred to in that Article:
Provided that information concerning the grounds on which a particular application for asy- lum is based or the grounds on which a decision concerning such an application is based shall not be communicated under this section without the prior consent of the person the subject of the application.’’,
( q ) in section 23, by the substitution in paragraph ( b ) for ‘‘Appeal Board’’ of ‘‘Tribunal’’,
( r ) in section 28, by the substitution for ‘‘commencement of this Act’’ of ‘‘commencement of this section’’,
( s ) by the substitution of the following Schedule for the First Schedule—
Refugee Applications Commissioner
Section 6.
appointed to be the Commissioner unless the Civil Ser- vice Commissioners, within the meaning aforesaid, after holding a competition under section 15 of that Act, have, under section 17 of that Act, selected him or her for appointment to the position.
( a ) may at any time resign his or her office by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect on and from the date of receipt of the letter,
( b ) may at any time be removed from office by the Minister if, in the opinion of the Minister, he or she has become incapable through ill- health of effectively performing his or her functions or has committed stated misbehav- iour, and
( c ) shall in any case vacate his or her office on attaining the age of 65 years.
( a ) those powers shall, in lieu of being exercisable by the Minister, be exercisable by the Com- missioner, and
( b ) the Commissioner shall, in lieu of the Minister, be for the purposes of this Act the approp- riate authority in relation to members of the staff of the Commissioner.
