Changes have been announced to the student support scheme for asylum-seekers.
Prospective applicants are no longer required to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained the Leaving Certificate. This development comes after a review indicated that such requirements were too restrictive. Prospective applicants will still have to have been in the protection or leave to remain process for a combined period of three years; to have been accepted on an approved post Leaving Certificate course, or an approved undergraduate course; and to have been resident in the State for a combined period of three years as of 31st August 2020.
Introduced in 2015, the student support scheme provides supports to eligible applicants who are in the protection system and who are either asylum applicants, subsidiary protection applicants or leave to remain applicants.
The changes were announced by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on 10th August.
The closing date for 2020/21 applications is 6th of November 2020. All applications, including those submitted before the changes were announced, will be reviewed under the new conditions of the scheme.
Further information on how to apply, including the application form, is available here.
