SECTION 2 ESTABLISHING IDENTITY OF NON-EEA NATIONALS IN MIGRATION PROCEDURES
2.5 On arrival to Ireland: border control and the registration process
2.5.1 Border control
As stated above, any individual wishing to enter the State, whether visa required or not, is subject to immigration controls at ports of entry. The Immigration Act 2004, section 11 provides that
Every person (other than a person under the age of 16 years) landing in the State shall be in possession of a valid passport or other equivalent document, issued by or on behalf of an authority recognised by the
75 Interview with INIS (Visa Division), June 2017. 76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.
Government, which establishes his or her identity and nationality to the satisfaction of an immigration officer.
Since 2015 the civilian BMU within INIS has responsibility for checking third- country national identity and travel documents at Dublin Airport Terminal 1 and this civilianisation programme is expected to be fully rolled out to Terminal 2 during 2017 (Department of Justice and Equality, 2017a).
On arrival at the border, passport and visa documentation presented will be checked for validity by INIS immigration officers. This involves a manual examination of the travel documents by trained officers. These officers have access to the Interpol Lost and Stolen Passport database since 2016,79 the EDISON system (Department of Justice and Equality 2017a, 13),80 and to the GNIB-IS which records supporting documentation provided by the applicant (see Section 2.5.2). Sometimes biographical information may be entered into the GNIB-IS by a border control officer at the airport. This is for convenience of registration later.81
Advance Passenger Information (API) is not systematically analysed. If a person of interest presents, the INIS will use the provisions on carrier liability in the Immigration Act 2003, to ask the carrier for the flight manifest.82 From autumn 2017, the Irish immigration authorities will begin to automatically collect and analyse API data from carriers on inbound flights from outside the EU.83 An API data processing unit will be established, including personnel from INIS and An Garda Síochána. The API data will be collected, run against relevant watch lists, analysed, and subsequent instructions sent to the relevant ports of entry. Ireland is also implementing the EU Directive (2016/681) on Passenger Name Records (PNR) (Department of Justice and Equality, 2017a)84 and, in time, both API and
79 This had previously been a back office check. Interview with INIS (Border Management Unit), 2017. 80 Interpol, ‘Systems’, www.interpol.int.
81 Interview with INIS (Border Management Unit), June 2017.
82 Carrier liability: Section 2(1) of the Immigration Act 2003 establishes carrier liability in relation to immigration
compliance of passengers carried. Section 2(1) (c) provides that a carrier must ensure that that ‘each non-national on board the vehicle seeking to land in the State or to pass through a port in the State in order to travel to another state has with him or her a valid passport or other equivalent document which establishes his or her identity and nationality and, if required by law, a valid Irish transit visa or a valid Irish visa.’
The Immigration Act 2003 (Carrier Liability) Regulations 2003 set out the form of the notice of an alleged offence under Section 2 of the Immigration Act 2003.
Transmission of Advanced Passenger Information (API) data: There is a legislative framework in place regulating provision of API data by carriers from outside the EU to the Irish authorities and, in certain circumstances, the provision of API data by Irish carriers to the authorities of other countries (United Kingdom).
83 Data collected in accordance with the Regulations 2011, transposing Directive 2004/82/EC ‘API’ Directive.
84 EU Directive 2016/681 on the use of passenger name record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation
and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime. PNR data is defined in the EU Directive on Passenger Name Records as follows: ‘a record of each passenger's travel requirements which contains information necessary to enable reservations to be processed and controlled by the booking and participating air carriers for each journey booked by
PNR data will be screened in the same Passenger Information Unit (PIU). 85 It is the intention of the Irish authorities to also collect intra-EU passenger data, as foreseen by the Directive.86 As of October 2017, the technical solution to process API was expected to be installed shortly and INIS indicated that API will then start to be collected on certain routes initially on a trial basis. Additionally, INIS indicated that, as required by the PNR Directive, a Director has been appointed to head up the Passenger Information Unit and has begun work to establish the Unit.87
The GTB88 also makes iFado, an online database containing false and authentic documents, available to border control officers and other immigration officers and government officials involved in the immigration process.89 BMU staff can contact the GTB (Documents Section) if serious concerns are raised in relation to documentation.
Individuals can also be interviewed to assess credibility and can be refused entry to the State and returned if concerns are raised at this point. Immigration Officers may also require fingerprints on arrival at an Irish port of entry.
2.5.2 Registration
Non-EEA nationals who are resident for longer than 90 days in Ireland are required to register with the GNIB or, in Dublin, at the Registration Office operated by INIS. Particulars to be furnished on registration are set out in section 9 of the Immigration Act 2004 (see Table 1). At the time of registration, biographical and biometric information is saved in the GNIB-IS. Where machine- readable passports are available, the machine-readable zone is scanned and the GNIB-IS is automatically populated.90 INIS seeks to establish consistency between visa and residency applications and the individual presenting at the Registration Office.91 Concerns raised by Immigration Officers working on registrations will be brought to the attention of GNIB and/or INIS (Visa Investigation Section).
or on behalf of any person, whether it is contained in reservation systems, departure control systems used to check passengers onto flights, or equivalent systems providing the same functionalities.’
85 Interview with official, Border Management Unit, INIS, June 2017. 86 Ibid.
87 Correspondence with INIS, Border Management Unit, Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, October 2017. 88 The GTB is the national administrator for the iFADO portal for false and authentic documents at border.
89 Interview with Garda Technical Bureau, July 2017. 90 Consultation with GNIB, August 2017.
TABLE 1 INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION TO BE FURNISHED BY NON-EEA NATIONALS AT TIME OF REGISTRATION WITH GNIB/INIS
Name in full and sex.
Present nationality and how and when acquired and previous nationality (if any). Date and place of birth.
Profession or occupation.
Date, place and mode of arrival in the State. Address of residence in the State.
Address of last residence outside the State.
Photograph of the non-national (which, if not furnished by the non-national, may be taken by the registration officer).
If in government service, the service concerned, nature and duration of service, and rank and appointments held.
Particulars of passport or other document establishing nationality and identity.
Signature (which, if required, shall be in the characters of the language of the non-national’s nationality) and fingerprints if required by the registration officer.
Any other matter of which particulars are required by the registration officer. Source: Immigration Act 2004, section 9.
A photograph is taken at registration for use on the registration card (known as a GNIB card) and to be stored on GNIB-IS. The Uniform Format Residence Permit, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) 1030/2002, will be rolled out from autumn 2017.92 The Regulation sets out the general characteristics of the uniform format for residence permits issued by EU Member States. INIS (Registration Office) will have access to ICAO93 compliant cameras in the future (a pilot is planned for the last quarter of 2017). There are currently no plans to compare the photographs with national and European databases.94
Ten fingerprints are taken at first registration.95 These ten fingerprints are saved on the Garda AFIS system.96 Fingerprints from two index fingers are taken to be used for verification purposes at renewal of registration. These two index fingerprints are saved on the GNIB-IS.97
In response to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) on the use of fingerprinting by GNIB, the Minister for Justice described fingerprinting as being recognised internationally, with other biometric identifiers, as an essential and reliable method of identity verification and a key technology to combat identity fraud and to enhance the security and integrity of documentation such as the registration
92 Interview with INIS (Registration Office), July 2017.
93 The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has stipulated certain mandatory specifications for passport
photos.
94 Interview with INIS (Registration Office), July 2017.
95 INIS, ‘What happens at a registration office’, www.inis.gov.ie. 96 Interview with INIS (Registration Office), July 2017.
certificate issued to a non-national.98 The GTB considers fingerprints to be the best biometric identifier.99
The IPO considers fingerprints probative when matching people to previous fingerprints,100 but fingerprints do not establish identity.101 In some cases fingerprint matches are associated with different identities, i.e. names, dates of birth, nationalities, etc.102
2.5.3 Challenges
In relation to travel documents presented at the border, the BMU and GTB (Documents Section) identify as the major issues: a) poor quality/damaged genuine documents carried by genuine owner; b) genuine documents carried by an impostor; and c) new travel documents issued by non-EU authorities, the features of which are not yet familiar to front-line staff. The use of forged or falsified EU ID cards is also a major issue.
The INIS Registration Office notes that establishing identity is a challenge in the context of residence permits for family, study and remunerated activities, where the applicant has a non-machine readable/non-electronic passport and therefore cannot be checked instantaneously against Interpol’s Lost and Stolen Passport database via GNIB.
INIS noted that a single search facility for officers at border control which could check against all databases would be useful but is not immediately planned.103 In the context of visas, as documentation is submitted prior to arrival in the country, this presents fewer challenges in the context of establishing identity than in cases of international protection where there may be no prior documentation available for comparative purposes (see Section 2.6).
With reference to the registration of a Syrian child, ICI reported difficulties in obtaining a valid passport from the country of origin due to war or political instability (Immigrant Council of Ireland, 2016).
98 Parliamentary Question, 28 January 2014 [591]. Available at: oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie. 99 Interview with Garda Technical Bureau, July 2017.
100 Interview with International Protection Office, June 2017. 101 Ibid.
102 Interview with Garda Technical Bureau, July 2017. 103 Interview with INIS (Border Management Unit), June 2017.