Dozens of young people in developing countries have been left out of pocket because English language schools operating here have not returned significant sums of money owed to them.
The Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) has said it is aware of 30 cases, involving ten schools, where prospective students whose visa applications were refused are struggling to recoup provisional course fees they paid.
People from non-EEA countries are obliged to pay course fees upfront before they can apply for an Irish study visa. The English language colleges are obliged to hold those provisional fees in a ring-fenced escrow account and to return them within 20 working days if a visa application proves to be unsuccessful.
RTÉ News has spoken to one student who has been trying for ten months to get €2,810 owed to her by a Limerick based college refunded.
Lorena Prasca Ramirez, from Colombia, paid €2,810 in fees for a 25-week English language course to NED College in February of 2025. In June she informed NED that her visa application was unsuccessful and she requested a refund.
Ms Prasca Ramirez has emailed the college numerous times since then. But after initially blaming administrative and other difficulties for the delay they stopped responding to her emails in October.
Last month, ICOS contacted NED on her behalf to query why her course fee had not yet been returned.
ICOS also wrote on behalf of another applicant, also owed a refund from NED. ICOS said that to date it has received no response to its queries.
Ten months on Ms Prasca Ramirez, who works as an architect in Colombia, has yet to have her course fee reimbursed.
Speaking from Colombia last Friday, she said she felt "sad and worried".
She said: "I feel very deceived and I have lost confidence. €2,810 is a significant sum of money here in Colombia. This experience has not been good for me".
Yesterday, she finally received news that the refund is on its way.
ICOS says it is aware of a total of around €60,000 owed to other students, by ten different schools. Those students are from countries including Senegal, Cambodia, Cameroon, Morocco, and Myanmar.
"We are very concerned. Since the start of 2026 we have had an exceptional number of students contacting us who are waiting for their refunds", Brian Hearne, Policy and Communications manager with ICOS said.
Last Friday, the Department of Justice wrote to the English language colleges reminding them of their obligations.
"We are seeing evidence of an increase in requests from refused visa applicants seeking their refunds from ILEP listed providers, some of these who are very concerned and worried about the delays they are experiencing," the communication reads.
The email goes on to remind the colleges of the regulations as follows: "For handling of advance payments dependent on the visa application process, ILEP Providers must operate an escrow/delayed payment account.
"The operation of the account must be in accordance with the following key steps:
- Students pay programme fees in advance of making a visa application;
- Funds must remain in this account until the student's visa application is determined:
"If the visa application is refused, the funds (less any pre-indicated handling charge) must be refunded within 20 working days of the decision being communicated to the Provider."
ICOS believes number of students owned money is higher
While ICOS is aware of 30 students who claim they are owed significant sums of money in refunds, it believes the true number to be much higher.
Brian Hearne points out that these mostly young applicants are exceptionally vulnerable.
"The students who have contacted us are from developing countries, and the sums of money that they have paid to these language schools are extraordinary figures for them. In some cases it could be six or even 12 months of their annual salary. English is not their first language and they don’t know the system here or who to contact," he said.
ICOS said that it is concerned that some of the colleges are not abiding by their obligation to hold the provisional fees that applicants pay in a separate escrow account.
In addition to the prospective students who have contacted ICOS, RTÉ News is aware of five in Togo are also owed course fees by a language school based in Cork, English Talks.
English language student 'exceptionally vulnerable', says Irish Council for International Students
English Talks said they needed further evidence of visa refusal before processing the refunds.
The school director Asef Muhammad said, "we have no problem refunding them".
He said that the college does operate an Escrow account.
The director of NED, David Russell, has blamed the Department of Justice and the Government.
He said: "Unfortunately, many English language education providers are experiencing many refund requests due to the large amount of visa refusals. This situation was due to decisions made by the Department of Justice and the Government of Ireland".
Mr Russell said NED College was "working through refunds to the best of our ability".
"Unfortunately there have been delays for a few refund requests due to issues with a number of agencies located abroad", he said.
Ms Prasca Ramirez confirmed that she dealt with NED college directly and did not use an agent. Correspondence RTÉ News has seen confirms this.
Mr Russell said NED does operate an escrow account, as per the regulations.
"It is up to students to choose which account to make payment into," he said.
"If you could pass the names of the students impacted, we can go about rectifying the matter as quickly as possible," he wrote.
Yesterday, Lorena Prasca Ramirez received an email that has given her hope. An hour-and-a-half after RTÉ News contacted NED college and its director an email landed in her inbox.
"Dear, [blank]" it read.
"Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay.
"Your refund is with our payment partner Flywire now. They will process the refund to the original payment method.
"Flywire might contact you through email or phone if necessary for KYC.
"Kind regards."
This unsigned email was the first she had received from NED since they stopped responding to her last October.
Ms Prasca Ramirez does not think the timing of Monday’s communication is a coincidence. The money has not yet arrived in her account but it appears to be on its way and she is hopeful.
On Monday night Mr Russell in an email stated: "I can confirm that Lorena's refund has definitely been processed and issued."
