Calls by migrant workers, students and families to reduce immigration fees were ignored in Budget 2025, according to the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.
The group has expressed disappointment that there was no reduction announced of the €300 Irish Residence Permission card fee charged to migrants.
MRCI said that it only costs the State €20.50 to produce and deliver each card, and that while the fee was doubled in 2012 as an austerity measure, it has remained the same ever since.
The centre added that the charge is much higher than similar fees in other European countries.
"We are shocked to see absolutely no reduction in this extortionate and unfair fee," said Mina Benyamine, spokesperson for the MRCI Fair Fees campaign.
Fair Fees group member Kareshma Sookharry, originally from Mauritius, who works as a catering assistant, said that as a single mother, it is difficult for her to find any extra money for the IRP card.
"There were times when we have to go without basics just to have money to pay the IRP fee," Ms Sookharry said.
MRCI Co-Director Neil Bruton described the issuing of an IRP card as a simple and inexpensive procedure just like renewing a passport.
"This fee could easily have been reduced to a fairer and more reasonable level by the Minister for Justice," Mr Bruton said.
The Department of Justice said that the IRP card provides people with a secure immigration document including individual biometrics indicators, and is protected by a sophisticated encryption system.
"The standard registration fee of €300 payable by an applicant is designed to reflect the full effort and cost, beyond the physical cost of producing the card itself, in processing registrations," a spokesperson said.
The department said that while Budget 2025 did not include a reduction in fees, it did provide for a very significant further investment in the overall immigration system, including continued substantial funding for the modernisation of immigration services.
"The minister anticipates that the current structure of fees and permissions will be subject to further examination and review as the overall process of modernising the immigration system progresses and this will, of course, be the subject of appropriate consultation," the department said.
