SassyHazel wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 12:03 pm
Good day
My son is 19 years old and fully dependent on his parents. He is in full time education online and has been for the past year (2024-1st year complete). We now plan to join my husband in Ireland who is on a CSEP. I have read the policy documents regarding an application for my son. The policy states that the child must be in full time education which he is.... It does not state that full time education must be in Ireland (it's really expensive for an international student). I have contacted the varsity he is currently studying at and asked them if it would still be possible for him to continue with his 2nd year and they said he could go anywhere in the world and continue with his studies as long as he attends class as per timetable. This is confirmation from the varsity.
What I would like to verify, am I correct in saying that he is in full time education online and that he doesn't need to be in full time education in Ireland?
I mean Ireland does not want immigrants to become a burden to the state in which case all we want is for our son to be with us whilst he continues his studying. We will have medical insurance and everything we require to ensure we are secure.
I would appreciate any feedback, thoughts and opinions on this subject.
Thanks
I'd be very surprised if a non-Irish institute was regarded as meeting the criteria for his dependency visa as a young adult, but I think the only way you could truly know is to apply and see. I've previously seen a note on ISD specifically excluding online studies at international institutions for young adults, but it doesn't appear to exist anymore. Whether this is because they regard it as self-evident that international study doesn't count, or they are willing to consider it now is not clear.
I suspect the reason they'd be disinclined to accept international online study is there is no independent way to verify he is actually studying. They can't contact the institution themselves to check. An Irish regulated institution would be required to engage with them confirming details if they asked.
Though this reference below relates to getting a student visa, and not the dependent visa you are seeking for him, it's pretty clear the intention is that the study is with an Irish institution.
https://www.irishimmigration.ie/coming- ... ge-course/
Other references to the definition of education (full time or part time) are based on either ECTS accreditation or NFQ (National Framework of Qualifications) framework. ECTS is a specifically European framework (though there are equivalences to other non European schemes of course. But an equivalence isn't the same as actually being an ECTS course.) NFQ is a specifically Irish framework, and won't be given to non-Irish courses.
This link is about social welfare, which is not your question, but includes the accepted definition of full time education, with the ECTS reference:
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/s ... 20workload.
All of the references here to the NFQ assume the institute will be Irish:
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/m ... ns%20(NFQ).
I have found this reference:
'Evening courses, distance education or part time study. Under the immigration rules a person is permitted to come to Ireland as a student on the understanding that they are engaged in full time study or, in other words, that their chief daytime occupation is study. For the purposes of this rule, daytime is defined as between 8am and 6 pm Monday to Friday. A person cannot be registered with the immigration service as a student if they are a night student, engaged in distance education or part time study. Full time study is defined as 15 hours per week for 26 weeks per year This does not preclude a foreign national who has a different immigration status (e.g. worker, dependent, refugee etc) from engaging in any of theses forms of education. ' from this document for Colleges offering courses:
www.irishimmigration.ie/wp-content/uplo ... lleges.pdf
It is from 2011, so whether it has been superceded by something that recognises changes in technology, I'm not sure.
It seems to pretty clear that distance education, or even perhaps attending classes in the evenings (if say, your son's institution's timezone makes this necessary) precludes recognition as a student for visa purposes and his visa permission would have to come via another route. It does however suggest that there is allowance to undertake this as a dependent though. I'm unclear if this is also true for him as a young adult dependent, versus say being a minor student dependent.
I guess your best bet would be to try it and see what they say. Perhaps you could offer the 2011 document as support. In the absence of definitive guidance, this will be the only way you'll know for sure.
