International protection decisions and appeals

This page tells you about your options if your application for international protection (asylum) has been refused and how to appeal the decision.

You can appeal recommendations to the International Protection Appeals Office (IPO) in most cases. However, some recommendations and decisions cannot be appealed.

There are a number of decisions and recommendations that you can get after you apply for international protection. You can appeal the recommendations and decisions below to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT).

Recommendations on admissibility

If the IPO decides that your application is inadmissible, it will send a recommendation to the Minister for Justice. You (or your solicitor) will be sent the recommendation and the reasons for it. You can appeal the recommendation to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT)

Transfer decisions under the Dublin Regulations

The EU Dublin Regulations sets out the rules about which country is responsible for a person’s international protection application. Under the EU Dublin Regulations the IPO may decide to issue a ‘transfer decision’, which you can appeal to IPAT.

Recommendation of the IPO on your international protection application

Once it has assessed your application, the IPO makes a recommendation to the Minister for Justice. The IPO recommends one of the following:

• You should be declared a refugee
• You should not be declared a refugee, but you should get a subsidiary protection declaration
• You should be refused international protection (you should not be declared a refugee and you should also not get a subsidiary protection declaration.

You can appeal this recommendation to IPAT.

Subsequent applications

If your application for international protection and your appeal are both refused and something has changed that makes it more likely that you would now qualify for international protection, you can apply to the Minister for Justice to make a subsequent application. If the Minister refuses permission, you can appeal that decision to IPAT.

Other decisions you can appeal

Other decisions that you can appeal against include:

• Refusals or withdrawals of labour market access permission
• Decisions about your accommodation in reception centres (direct provision), including decisions that you are not entitled to it or must pay a contribution towards it
• Refusals of the Daily Expenses Allowance, or demands that you repay expenses

Withdrawing your application or having it withdrawn

You could decide to withdraw your application yourself for international protection for your own reasons. Or your application could be withdrawn because you did not comply with your legal duties during the application (for example, you did not tell the IPO that you changed your address).

If your application is withdrawn, you cannot appeal this decision to IPAT. You can make an application to the High Court for a judicial review of how the decision was made.

Decisions of the Minister for Justice

Following the recommendation from the IPO, the Minister for Justice can decide that:

• You should not be granted international protection despite the recommendation of the IPO
• You should get permission to remain in Ireland
• You should not get permission to remain and you should get a deportation order

You cannot appeal these decision to IPAT. You can apply to the High Court for a judicial review of how the Minister made the decision.

You cannot appeal a deportation order to IPAT. You can make a request to the Minister for Justice for a deportation order to be revoked. You can also apply to the High Court for judicial review of how the deportation decision was made.

You should get legal advice before you appeal any of the recommendations or decisions described above. You can get free legal aid for making an appeal. You should be aware of the time limits for appeals, set out below. You appeal to IPAT on the relevant form, including all the information and documentation you want to be considered as part of your appeal.

The table below tells you about the time limits and the form to use for each of the appeal types you can make to IPAT.

Accelerated appeals procedure

If the IPO report recommends that your application for refugee or subsidiary protection status should be refused for one of the reasons set out below, you must appeal the decision within 10 working days of the decision date. These reasons are set out in section 39(4) of the International Protection Act 2015.

• The issues you raised in your application were either not relevant or only minimally relevant to your eligibility for international protection Your representations have been inconsistent, contradictory, improbable or insufficient and your application is unconvincing as a result
• You did not make an application as soon as you could without a good reason
• You do not need international protection because you could live in another part of the country that you came from without fear of persecution or harm
• You came from a safe country of origin

These reasons are set out in Section 39(4) of the International Protection Act.

Your appeal will be decided without an oral hearing, unless IPAT believes that it is in the interests of justice to hold an oral hearing.

Late appeals

If your appeal is late, you should include a request for an extension and explain the reasons why your appeal is late. If IPAT gets a late appeal without a request for an extension, it will write to you to tell you that your appeal is late. You can request an extension (setting out the reasons why your appeal is late) within 3 days of getting this notification.

IPAT will only grant the extension if you have shown that there were special circumstances that prevented you from appealing on time, and it would be in the interests of justice to allow the extension.

If IPAT does not grant you an extension, it will reject your appeal.

Permission to remain decisions

If you get permission to remain, you can choose to withdraw your appeal against the refusal to declare you a refugee or grant you subsidiary protection. You do not have to withdraw your appeal.

You cannot appeal a refusal of your permission to remain application. But if your international protection appeal is refused, and you had already been refused permission to remain, you will get a Permission to Remain Review Form to complete. You can use this form to tell the Minister about any changes in your circumstances since the Minister refused to grant you permission to remain.

Apply by post or email

You can send your completed appeal application and supporting documentation by email or post. See ‘Contacts’ below for details.

You can request an oral hearing of your appeal against a recommendation that you should not be declared a refugee, or that you should not be granted subsidiary protection.

IPAT must hold an oral hearing if you ask for one. If you do not ask for an oral hearing, IPAT will decide if an oral hearing is needed. The oral hearing may be in person at the IPAT office in Dublin, or may be held remotely (online).

At an oral hearing, a member of IPAT will listen to your case. They will also listen to an officer from the Minister for Justice (called the ‘presenting officer’) who will explain the decision that you are appealing.

You can ask for an interpreter to be there to help you understand. You should consider having an interpreter if English is not your first language, even if you speak English well. Both you and the presenting officer can call witnesses. If you want to have witnesses present, you must request this when you are making your appeal application.

Your legal representative will help you to present your case by asking you questions. The presenting officer will also ask you questions. The IPAT member may also ask questions to make sure that you have presented your case fully. Oral hearings usually last about 2 hours.

You must attend your oral hearing. If you cannot attend, you must write to IPAT to explain the reason. If you do not do this, your appeal could be withdrawn.

No oral hearing

For recommendations that you should not be declared a refugee or that you should be granted neither refugee or subsidiary protection status, IPAT may only decide on your appeal without an oral hearing if:

• The recommendation you are appealing comes under the accelerated appeals procedure, and IPAT decides that it is not in the interest of justice to hold an oral hearing
• You have not requested an oral hearing and IPAT has decided not to hold one
• You have withdrawn your request for an oral hearing and IPAT has decided not to hold one

You and your solicitor will be notified in writing of the decision of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal. A copy of the decision will be forwarded to the Minister for Justice.

If the Tribunal decides you should be granted international protection, the Minister will usually give you a refugee or a subsidiary protection.

If you appeal is not allowed, you may be able to apply to the High Court for a judicial review of how the decision was made. You should get legal advice about this.

Subsequent application

If you have been refused international protection but you want to apply again, you may be able to make a subsequent application. You must first apply for the Minister’s permission to make a subsequent application.

To qualify, there must be new information since your previous application, making it more likely that you will qualify for international protection. You must have been unable to present this information in your previous application.

If the Minister allows you to make a subsequent application, you should do this within 10 working days.

If the Minister does not allow you to make a subsequent application, you can appeal this refusal within 10 working days from the date you were notified. The decision in this appeal will be made without an oral hearing.