A “significant cull” in the number of study visas issued to English language students is hurting the industry here, the representative body for the sector has said.
Lorcan O’Connor Lloyd, the head of English Education Ireland, which represents about 65 providers, said the refusal rate for applications to study English in Ireland is typically 20-25 per cent.
Last year, however, this rose to 39 per cent and to 64 per cent in the first three months of this year amid a clampdown by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.
This is acting as a major break on the industry at a time when the adult learner market was in decline, O’Connor Lloyd said.
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He claimed the sector was worth almost €900 million a year to the economy, equivalent to the aircraft leasing sector.
The Department of Justice is in charge of issuing temporary study visas to non-EU students. There were about 60,000 visas for students from outside the European Economic Area issued in 2024.
O’Connor Lloyd said the Minister’s tougher stance was based on “anecdotal evidence” that students were using language schools as a back door into the jobs market here.
“The students come here for a specific purpose ... they come, they study, generally speaking they go back home,” he said.
He acknowledged the Minister’s move to restrict visas was also likely motivated by a few “bad actors” that had financially mismanaged their operations.
“Oversight of the sector [in the past] hasn’t been strong enough,” he said.
Under a new, stricter regulatory system, which came into force this year, accreditation for independent English language schools and university language centres is now being managed by the State education agency Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).
The first authorisations under the QQI system were granted earlier this month. “The rest [of the schools] are going through inspection at the moment and the expectation is, they will be authorised from early next year,” he said.
While visiting language students fell in many countries, those coming to Ireland rose by 2 per cent to 124,789.
Stricter visa and immigration policies, rising costs of living, and broader pressures on global student mobility combined to reduce the average programme duration, from 6.4 weeks in 2024 to 4.9 weeks in 2025.
“Total student weeks fell by 18 per cent, and the financial impact was felt acutely by schools whose revenue is tied to length of stay,” O’Connor Lloyd said.
He highlighted the industry – globally – was witnessing a gradual movement away from adult learners toward younger students.
“Adult students, while still generating 80 per cent of student weeks, have been in gradual decline for several years, as rising English proficiency in key source markets, greater price sensitivity, and evolving immigration conditions have made longer adult stays more difficult to sustain,” he said.
