Permanent residency, Naturalisation & Citizenship in Ire

[chen]

Dear all,

Good evening!

I am a Chinese national living in the Republic of Ireland since Jan. 1999. For all the past 6 years here I have been holding a study visa which is renewed annually. I studied the English language initially, then went on to do a bachelar degree in psychology. I am currently on my final year of this degree, and start worrying my near future ahead.

As some of you may already known, the new Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 will come into operation from the New Year, 2005. And under Section 16A of this Act, it is stated that "a period of residence in the State shall not be reckoned when calculating a period of residence for the purposes of granting a certificate of naturalisation if" ... "(b) it is in accordance with a permission given to a person under section 4 of the Act of 2004 for the purpose of enabling him or her to engage in a course of education or study in the State".

To my understanding, this is to say that because I was a STUDENT all the time, the past 6 years that I have spent here in this country do NOT help at all in enabling me to meet the minimum requirements of periods of residency towards naturalisation.

Here are my questions:

(a) Could international students in this country, after paying hugh amount of fees and spending a number of years of their life here, benefit ANYTHING at all?

(b) There is a saying going on here that you must be in Ireland for 10 years before you can apply for permanent residency. Could anybody verify this piece of info for me (by suggesting the relavent web sites maybe)? Besides, what are the advantages and disadvantages of having permanent residency anyway?

(c) I do wish to further my career by postgraduate studies though. As a result, I was just wondering, unlike Ireland, whether any other European countries recognise the periods of residency as a student towards naturalisation?

By the way, this Christmas was truely windy and rainy and cold in Dublin. Yet I felt happy. I have worked hard these years. And I won't give up this final term of my degree. Best wishes to all of you who have read this message, in sharing my happiness and confidence, let us all be good in the new year ahead.

Sincerely yours,

Chen

[calai]

hi there,

I am not an expert but try to help (if i can).

a) Student visa/permit cannot be counted towards naturalisation in your case. The only chance for you would be finding an employer to sponsor you for the following years or getting married with an Irish citizen who did not gain his/her citizenship through naturalisation.

c) You can be a British citizen theoretically after being a student there for 10 years. I am not sure about other EU countries. Switzerland counts student permits (permit B only) towards permanent citizenship if you have stayed in 1 canton (county) for at least 10 years and pass a language examination but its almost impossible for you. Language studies are set to be 2 years maximum for every student. If you start to study at 14, u might be able to obtain permenant citizenship when you are 20.

Cheers,
Caroline