HOSTING AGREEMENT Scheme of admission third country researchers to Ireland Dr Magdalena Wislocka EURAXESS Ireland Brussels 2010

National organisation for the EURAXESS Services Network in Ireland Dr Conor O Carroll: Research Director Ms Jennifer Cleary: Head of EURAXESS Ireland Dr Magdalena Wislocka: Hosting Agreement Scheme Manager& EURAXESS Officer Provides 2 key national services – EURAXESS & Marie Curie NCP Strong in-house expertise & experience relating to researcher mobility issues Who we are

Implementation of the Third Country Directive in Ireland The Researcher Hosting Agreement Scheme, which Ireland opted into voluntarily in 2007, implements the Third Country Directive. The scheme enables recruitment of researchers from outside the EEA to carry out research in Ireland without the need for a Work Permit. This mechanism facilitates researchers and their immediate family for the duration of their contract. EURAXESS Ireland, hosted in the IUA, is a government appointed central processing house for hosting agreements and plays a key role in the official accreditation and immigration process.

Who can avail of the Hosting Agreement Scheme in Ireland ? Non EEA researches from accredited institutions, engaged in defined research projects on a contract of employment of minimum 3 months. Salary must be at least 30,000 for researchers with families and 25,000 for researchers without accompanying dependants in Ireland.

Hosting agreement has several advantages over other immigration schemes in Ireland It is free to the research institutions (accredited for the Scheme) Fast tracks Visa application It provides for instant family re-unification (spouse and dependents can come in to Ireland immediately) Spouses of H.A holders have easier access to employment than spouses of other non EEA employees in Ireland It covers the length of the employment contract Plans for speeding up the naturalisation process (Long term residency after 2 yrs vs 5 yrs on work permit) It takes 1– 14 days to process a hosting agreement

How the System Works Firs step: Accreditation Research organisation Pubic (University) Private (Industry) Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Application for Accreditation lodged by an organisation Application approved and Accreditation granted within 1 week max Helpdesk at DETI for Institutions

How It Works Further steps: Approved research Organisation (university, technological institutes, industrial organisations etc…) Research organisation issues an employment contract and a Hosting Agreement to a non EEA researcher.

Research Institution Issues HA IUA Gets a copy of HA Validation Processing by providing details to immigration Researcher Gest original HA INIS (national immigration office) Informs local immigration GNIB GNIB (local police) Gives permission to remain and work EXTRANET central database Who is involved ?

Immigration issues: from researchers perspective Then they are required to register at immigration office and get permission to remain in Ireland Non EEA obliged to register annually (fee involved) Researcher signs a hosting agreement Applies for a visa (if required) Fast track Embassy verifies application against EXTRANET Researcher and dependants get an entry permission at the Irish airport on presentation of H.A

Research Organisation IUA Contact person immigration research administration The scheme operates very smoothly …The ability to be able to pick up the phone and have any question answered means any problems that do arise can be dealt with by us as they arise. And the reverse(…)any question you may have relating to any area of immigration can be addressed to one contact point and be answered quickly. This in effect, negates the red tape which can often be problematic with this type of scheme. Ciaran Conroy INIS contact said… Contact person INISGNIB

Hosting Agreement Form is very simple Agreements are individually numbered Include details of dependants Processing time: 1-14 days

Hosting Agreement EXTRANET Has been developed with financial support of the DETI and the IUA Highly Secured constantly updated database Contains details of all agreements processed in Ireland for non EEA researchers Can be accessed, for verification purposes, by accredited researcher organisations, immigrations authorities including Irish embassies and consulates abroad The EXTRANET is a part of a hosting agreement processing system- details of new agreements being automatically forwarded to a dedicated recipient in the immigration department

We are all finding the Hosting Agreement website very useful here in the visa office, New Delhi. It enables us to process research visa applications in one day, which I think is helpful to all involved. Catherine McManus, New Delhi Embassy of Ireland I find this database very helpful when we have a hosting agreement visa application here to check that the application is genuine and the hosting agreement document is not falsified. It does decrease the processing time if we had any suspicion about a case, rather than contacting the Irish college directly and waiting for a reply, we can check the database instead. Anne Roche Beijing Embassy of Ireland The use of EXTRANET The extranet is very useful tool both in terms of being able to check on whether a hosting agreement has issued or not or the status of any researcher. This allows for an instant answer at anytime without having to consult anyone. It is also very useful in terms of being able to access statistical data instantly. Ciaran Conroy INIS

Top nationalities with hosting agreements in Ireland China 186 India 183 Russia 44 Australia 31 Canada 34 Pakistan 31 Other 58 countries 38 % America % HA researchers represent 65 different nationalities 38 %

Facts and numbers 27 research institutions accredited including 4 private enterprises Overall number of processed contracts is 1400, including extended contracts Hosting agreement researchers have been involved in 990 different research projects in Ireland 480 live contracts at present Man/Woman ratio Average age of researchers - 35 years Average duration of contract - 2 years Total number of researchers in Ireland: 3000 including H.A researchers (ca 16 % on H.A)

Promotion of the H.A Scheme Information leaflet o job fairs at universities o conferences o symposia (SFI) o Marie Curie events o IUA website o Various meetings

Researchers not qualifying for H.A scheme in Ireland (short term visa) University invites a non EEA Researcher and contact EURAXESS Ireland for assistance IUA brings the case to the appointed contact persons at INIS (1-2 days) Immigration (INIS) sorts out queries on a case by case basis (1day- 2 weeks) … and issues an Invited Researcher Visa

More Testimonials "The involvement of the Irish Universities Association has been critically important in making the researchers system a success. It gives the immigration service a single point of contact for the day to day management of the system and the IUA's detailed understanding of the research environment gives us the confidence that only reputable institutions and researchers can participate". Kevin OSullivan Director Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Dr Magdalena Wislocka Telephone: +353-(0) Address: 48 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 Ireland Website: Contact Details