Helen McEntee

The regularisation scheme for long-term undocumented migrants opened for applications at the end of January and will run for six months. A separate strand for people who have been in the asylum system for over two years opened a week later and will also run for six months.

The Department of Justice announced today that around 5,000 applications have been made two date under both strands of the scheme, and the first 250 positive decisions have been issued in recent days. Processing of all other applications remains ongoing.

Justice minister Helen McEntee said: “We’ve seen a very positive level of engagement with the scheme since I opened it for applications at the end of January.

“We committed to making the online application process as simple and as straightforward as possible and because of this we are now in a position to issue the first positive decisions just two months in.

“Permission letters have started to arrive in homes across the country with life changing news for those receiving them and their families. I want to congratulate everyone who has received a letter and to thank them for trusting us and coming forward to regularise their position in the State.

“This is just the start and we’ll see more decisions and permissions issuing in the coming weeks.”