Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Data collection on the residence permits (RESPER) statistics contains statistical information based on the principles stated in the Union legislation on migration Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation (EU) 2020/851 and the Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 implementing the categories of reasons for residence permits.
The main RESPER data collection based on Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation
First residence permits,
Residence permits issued on the occasion of changing the immigration status or reason to stay,
Residence permits valid at the end of the year,
Long-term residence permits valid at the end of the year,
Long-term permits issued during the year.
Statistics collected on voluntary basis
Residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status.
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Residence permits statistics.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Each table refers to the number of persons, not to the number of administrative decisions or acts.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
3.7. Reference area
The Republic of Ireland
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Compilation and provision of statistics on residence permits is based on Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and amending Regulation (EU) 2020/851.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data are collected, processed and reported upon entirely within the Department of Justice and affiliated organisations.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
There is no formalised confidentiality policy. However no personal data or data that could lead to the identification of a person is released.
From 25 May 2018 the key legislative frameworks are:
Increasing amounts of departmental data are being made publicly available on the Government of Ireland’s Open Data Portal; data.gov.ie . Users are not informed of releases, and there is no pre-release access.
For the RESPER data, it is not currently disseminated on the above mentioned portal. Users can access the data once it is released by Eurostat.
There are no national, regular publications of this data. Eurostat dissemination yearly (on ESTAT website).
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not applicable.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Eurostat dissemination yearly (on ESTAT website).
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
EUROSTAT - Technical Guidelines; see Annex.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Statistics are based entirely on administrative sources.
Procedure manuals and process maps are compiled for each dataset and table.
Before publishing the data, consistent validation checks are performed.
Revisions are carried out as issues are encountered or identified.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data is marked as unreliable ("u"); see section 13 for more detail.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of Eurostat residence permits statistics are:
Various policy DGs in the European Commission, like DG Migration and Home Affairs for designing, funding and implementing migration related policies in the EU,
European Parliament,
National Authorities who use migration data to monitor or project the development of their national asylum procedures,
European Migration Network (EMN) which uses the migration data as a basis for its annual EU and national level statistical and analytical reports,
Researchers and students conducting analysis and research in the field of residence permits,
Journalists and international organisations in the area of migration.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Data is marked as unreliable ("u"); see section 13.3.2 for further details.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Data is marked as unreliable ("u").
The administrative data that contributes to this dataset comes from two sources; An Garda Síochána (the Irish Police Force), and the Department of Justice. Historically registrations have been handled by An Garda Síochána.
The main reason for the data unreliability is that the data is from two separate systems. There is insufficient data in the main permissions database relating to the reason a person has status in the State. Efforts to supplement the permissions data by linking to other migration databases is hindered by the lack of a shared unique person identifier; significant manual checks are required. This also causes issues with the removal of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from the data return. There are some other data quality issues, such as the way the date of the permission is recorded.
Due to these issues it is not possible to assess the amount of error present in the data, and so it is marked as unreliable.
Efforts will be made to improve this situation in future. The Department of Justice has now taken over the administration of registrations. New systems are being introduced and it is expected that these changes will improve the quality of this data in future.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
For the yearly data, data is extracted at the start of January in the following year and, after a period of data checks, they are sent to Eurostat.
Residence permits statistics covered by Article 6 are supplied to Eurostat within six months of the end of the reference year.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Data is submitted to Eurostat by the due data.
Data published on the Irish government website has a lag approximately seven days from end of month.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data is geographically comparable across all of the country
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable - data is all collected from the same source
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Checks are performed to ensure coherence.
As data is collected as part of the service delivery and statistics are based on existing administrative data. There is no extra cost or burden on respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
There is currently no formalised revision policy for these statistics. Revisions are done as soon as errors are discovered
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data is collected daily.
18.3. Data collection
Data related to residence permits are collected by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) which is the authority responsible to issuing these permits. Data is taken in annually by the Department of Justice for statistical processing.
18.4. Data validation
Internal checks are done by the data and analytics team when compiling the statistics.
Any inconsistencies discovered are relayed the the data entry teams for investigation.
Data collection on the residence permits (RESPER) statistics contains statistical information based on the principles stated in the Union legislation on migration Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation (EU) 2020/851 and the Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 implementing the categories of reasons for residence permits.
The main RESPER data collection based on Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation
First residence permits,
Residence permits issued on the occasion of changing the immigration status or reason to stay,
Residence permits valid at the end of the year,
Long-term residence permits valid at the end of the year,
Long-term permits issued during the year.
Statistics collected on voluntary basis
Residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status.
19 September 2025
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
Each table refers to the number of persons, not to the number of administrative decisions or acts.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
The Republic of Ireland
Calendar year.
Data is marked as unreliable ("u"); see section 13.3.2 for further details.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
There are no national, regular publications of this data. Eurostat dissemination yearly (on ESTAT website).
For the yearly data, data is extracted at the start of January in the following year and, after a period of data checks, they are sent to Eurostat.
Residence permits statistics covered by Article 6 are supplied to Eurostat within six months of the end of the reference year.
Data is geographically comparable across all of the country
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables RESPER’.
