A Brazilian student who says he was deported in error over Christmas by Irish immigration authorities has described feeling “helpless” and “abandoned” after a mini-trip away from Dublin turned into a nightmare.
Fernando Moura Fernandes Souza (37) booked a five-day holiday from Dublin to continental Europe during Christmas week – flying from Dublin to Amsterdam on December 23rd before going to Belgium and then Paris, France. When he arrived back at Dublin Airport on the evening of December 27th, he was refused entry to Ireland.
When a border official queried his student visa, Mr Souza said he showed his contract as a part-time waiter in a Dublin hotel, his student card, and a letter from Castleforbes College showing he had registered to study on a full time 15 hours per week English course. The college confirmed to The Irish Times that the letter was official, that he was enrolled, and that his attendance was above an 85 per cent requirement.
Mr Souza said his GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau) card, which is mandatory for international students from non-EEA (European Economic Area) countries to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days, expired on November 3rd but he told the immigration officer he had requested a renewal on October 26th.
He had received an email confirming receipt of correspondence at the time, stating processing times were in the region of 10-15 working days. Almost two months later, he was still waiting for approval.
“Immigration hadn’t denied or approved my application. My mistake was not to have questioned why it [the card] didn’t arrive,” Mr Souza said.
He said he tried showing the email to the immigration officer who didn’t believe him. “He said: No, you’re lying. Your letter is fake, your school is fake, and your job is fake. I told him I needed to make a call to prove it and he said that I wouldn’t call anyone.”
Mr Souza said he had believed he would have no problem returning to Ireland because he heard that during the Christmas period students who had experienced delays in the GNIB process could travel.
A statement on the Department of Justice website confirmed special allowances were being made over Christmas as “Immigration Services are currently experiencing a backlog in processing registrations across several locations”.
It said: “Following the completion of a registration, it may take a further two weeks to receive an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card via post.
“To facilitate Non EEA Nationals legally resident in the State who are required to renew their current permission and who wish to travel internationally during the Christmas period, the Minister is issuing a Travel Confirmation Notice requesting carriers to allow individuals to travel on their recently expired IRP card where an application to renew their permission was submitted in advance of the expiry date of their IRP card.
“Non EEA Nationals in the State who are required to apply for a renewal of their IRP card may use their current recently expired IRP card to enable them to travel in confidence from December 2nd 2024 to January 31st 2025, provided an application to renew their registration permission was submitted in advance of the expiry date of their IRP Card.”
Mr Souza said he tried to convince the immigration officer he was telling the truth and he persuaded the official to ring his employers. “The hotel confirmed that I was working there.” However, Mr Souza said: “I was arrested at 8.30pm. He took me to jail and left me there.”
He said he spent the night at the detention facility at Dublin Airport Garda station without water or food, and said he was forbidden to communicate with friends, family or a lawyer. “They gave me bread and eggs at 11am the next day, because I asked.”
The next day, December 28th, he was deported from Ireland to Paris. He felt “humiliated and treated like a criminal” and was escorted by two gardaí to the plane.
He was received by armed policemen at Paris-Beauvais airport. “When it was time to disembark, they made me leave through the front door before everyone. I was in the last seat of the plane. I passed by all the passengers, and everyone was looking at me. When I got to the door, the captain gave me my passport, and two heavily armed agents were waiting for me. I felt totally humiliated. I was taken as a detainee, a criminal. And worse than that, I was abandoned.”
He was escorted to a room. “The agents told me I was deported, and I was not charged with any crime. That I was free to do whatever I wanted. I had 90 days to stay legal in France. I thought they were going to deport me”.
He had approximately €200 in notes left over from his previous trip. “I couldn’t go to Brazil because I didn’t have enough money. I’m here with my passport, my Brazilian ID, a bag, three T-shirts and a pair of pants for the tour last week. All my belongings were in my house in Dublin. I was desperate. I didn’t know what to do.”
Feeling increasingly helpless, with no money to stay in France, or to pay for a ticket to Brazil, Mr Souza believed his best option was to attempt to return to Ireland via the UK. He bought a bus ticket from Paris to London that cost around €145, with a plan to travel from England to Northern Ireland and then cross the Border.
“I didn’t have enough money. It was my only option. I didn’t have another resource. I only had money to pay for this bus, for the flight to get back to Dublin.”
Before arriving at the strait of Dover to cross to England, he was checked by the UK juxtaposed border control, conducted before people entered the UK, in Coquellles, north France. He explained the situation but was refused permission to travel. “The agent took my fingerprints. He took a picture of me and stamped my passport with an X again”, he said.
Mr Souza was put on a bus and released “in a random place in France. I cried. When I was released in France, the guy said: Man, are you free. Damn, what is this freedom? I didn’t know where I was. It was six o’clock in the morning. It was dark and foggy. I felt totally abandoned”.
Increasingly desperate, he called his manager at the hotel in Dublin and asked for help. She instructed him to do a search online and find the closest airport. She purchased an online ticket for him to fly to São Paulo, Brazil, on December 30th, costing more than €800.
Speaking to The Irish Times before departing, Mr Souza said he was exhausted and distraught after the ordeal.
“I didn’t take a shower, I’m not sleeping. I had to sleep in a bank at the airport,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to pay a lot to do your exchange program, stay up to date, and lose six months of your course, get your passport flagged for refusal, not be able to travel and be expelled from the country. This is heartbreaking. I’m very helpless now. I feel totally frustrated and embarrassed”, he said.
Questioned about the deportation, the Department of Justice said in a statement it was “unable to comment on individual cases”.
It continued: “Under Section 4 of the Immigration Act 2004, an Immigration Officer must determine whether a non-EEA national should be granted leave to land and gain entry to the State. In performing their duties, an Officer is required to consider all of the circumstances of the individual at the time of entry. Section 4(3) of that Act sets out the full range of grounds on which a passenger may be refused. When an individual is refused leave to land, they are issued a notification which details the grounds under which they have been refused.”
There has been a significant increase in deportation orders this year, according to Department figures, with 2,403 orders signed until December 20th, an increase of 180 per cent when compared to the same period in 2023 (857).
