Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the 50% increase, from €100 to €150, in the cost of registering with the border and immigration authorities for most of those from outside the EEA; if he will confirm that this is an annual charge; if his attention has been drawn to concerns expressed by immigration and educational groups about the potential hardship of this increase; if he will review the increase; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32869/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Section 19(1)(a) of the Immigration Act, 2004 provides that for the giving of a permission (to reside in the State) a fee is payable by a non-national of such amount as may be prescribed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with the consent of the Minister for Finance. The consent of the Minister for Finance to revise the registration fee from €100 to €150 was obtained.

The revised fee of €150 is effective in respect of all registrations applied for on or after 23 August 2008, irrespective of duration. The following classes of persons are not required to pay the fee:

Convention Refugees;

Persons who have been reunified with such refugees under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996;

Persons who are under 18 years of age at the time of registration;

Spouses, widows and widowers of Irish citizens;

Spouses and Dependants of EU nationals who receive a residence permit under EU Directive 38/04;

Programme Refugees, as defined by section 24 of the Refugee Act, 1996.

Non-EEA nationals who register with an immigration officer receive a secure residence document in the form of a certificate of registration (registration card). The provision of such high quality secure documents is an expensive process. The costs involved include the actual cost of the card itself which includes several security features (including a biometric chip), administrative work by registration officers in the form of checking of documentation and capture of registration details and a state of the art computerised registration system operated by the Garda National Immigration Bureau. The practice internationally is to charge for the issuing of resident permits.

Since 19 August last, this registration system has been enhanced by the commencement of the roll out of a fingerprinting system for all persons who are required to obtain permission to reside in the State. Non-nationals who register from that date will have at least two fingerprints taken and these will be embedded in the biometric chip on the registration card. The costs of providing this system and the administrative costs associated with running it are substantial and this is reflected in the increased fee. An element is also included to reflect changes in inflation since the fee was introduced over 2 years ago. The fee structure for immigration related services in the State is kept under regular review.