Reform TPTS and Publish a Clear Post-2028 Residence Plan
The Issue
To the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Government of Ireland
Three decisions are needed now
- Replace retrospective employment and earnings cut-offs with a fair assessment of current and cumulative circumstances.
- Create workable economic and non-employment residence pathways for people excluded from TPTS, including workers, genuine households and people who cannot meet an employment test.
- Publish a clear post-Temporary-Protection roadmap explaining what permission will be available, to whom, under what conditions, and how decisions can be reviewed.
We request changes to the Temporary Protection Transition Scheme (TPTS) and a defined residence route for people it excludes. This is a nationwide petition concerning Ukrainian beneficiaries of Temporary Protection, without county-based distinctions or a request to remove other qualifying beneficiaries.
The Government should answer a straightforward question: what realistic, lawful route in Ireland will be available to people who have built their lives here but cannot meet TPTS? Explaining that Temporary Protection is temporary does not answer how years of residence, work, relationships, community ties and children's education will be treated. People need decisions they can plan around, not uncertainty until protection expires.
The Department's own Statement of Strategy 2025-2028 commits to "a coherent and sustainable response to the ending of the Temporary Protection Directive" and to "effective pathways in place for Ukrainian people who were granted temporary protection in Ireland."
This petition asks a direct accountability question: what is the effective pathway for people whom TPTS excludes?
The issue is wider than one salary figure
CSO recorded 31,069 beneficiaries from Ukraine with employment earnings in May 2026 and 17,385 school enrolments in the 2025/26 academic year. These are dated participation figures, not a count of people excluded from TPTS.
The Government describes TPTS as supporting work, skills development and independent living. The supplied FAQ measures key conditions against historical dates, uses an individual EUR 29,432 annual gross earnings threshold and closes applications on 30 March 2027. It permits sufficient part-time earnings; it does not impose 40 working hours on everyone.
At the 2026 adult minimum wage, 35 paid hours weekly produce EUR 25,753 over 52 identical paid weeks; 37.5 hours produce EUR 27,592.50; 40 hours produce EUR 29,432. These illustrations exclude additional pay and unpaid reductions. Two otherwise qualifying partners earning EUR 20,000 each cannot pool their earnings for the principal threshold. Neither long service nor an employer's full-time label substitutes for that threshold.
We request the following six changes.
1. Recognise 35-hour work and genuine self-sufficiency as alternatives
Accept genuine lawful paid employment of at least 35 normal weekly hours, across one or more jobs, as an alternative to the annual earnings floor. Do not additionally require EUR 29,432. Verify contracts, actual employment, normal hours and compliance with applicable minimum-pay rules. Apply this nationally.
Also create a transparent household self-sufficiency assessment based on sustainable lawful resources and reasonable housing and living costs, without a fixed working-hours or individual salary requirement. Receipt of lawful child-related, health, disability or temporary supports should not automatically disqualify a household. The assessment should focus on whether ordinary living and housing costs can be met sustainably.
Non-receipt of support must not become a universal condition for the other routes. Do not require anyone to surrender lawful benefits, healthcare or education to pursue this petition's proposals. The 35-hour figure is our proposed access criterion, not a universal legal definition of full-time work.
Why 35 hours?
Thirty-five hours is not presented as a universal legal definition of full-time employment. It is a practical policy benchmark already used by the Irish State. Most civil servants work 35 net hours per week, and the Government-approved Independent Hours Body established a standardised minimum 35-hour net working week across the Civil and Public Service.
At the 2026 adult minimum wage, the TPTS threshold of EUR 29,432 is mathematically equivalent to 40 paid hours per week for 52 weeks. That arithmetic does not establish why Government selected the threshold. It is precisely why the Department should publish its methodology and explain why a 35-hour employment alternative was not used.
2. Remove both six-month restrictions and assess present circumstances
Remove the fixed historical six-month employment and earnings tests, including the requirement to have been working by 30 March 2026. Do not replace them with another mandatory six-month waiting period. Assess genuine current employment, contracts, available payroll and work history, including progression from lower-paid work, Tús or Community Employment, with proportionate checks against fictitious arrangements.
If Government decides to retain an employment-duration requirement, the minimum alternative should be a rolling or cumulative assessment up to the date of application, rather than a single retrospective cut-off tied to 30 March 2026. Current sustainable employment and documented progression should be capable of being assessed.
Remove the six-month-only application window and the absolute 30 March 2027 closure. Keep applications available while TP remains active and provide a published transition process beyond its end. Assess the one-year residence condition at application rather than permanently fixing it to September 2025. These are separate requested amendments, not existing entitlements.
A change of employer must not erase earlier work. Distinguish a genuine gap between jobs from sickness or leave within an ongoing contract. Adjust both hours and earnings for credible short sickness absences, statutory leave, justified unpaid leave and variable schedules. Where a medical certificate was not obtained, accept proportionate alternatives such as contemporaneous notifications, absence records, explanations and employer confirmation of recorded facts. Do not require altered payslips or invented medical evidence. Statutory sick-pay conditions remain separate.
3. Assess genuine couples as households
Allow verified employment and self-employment earnings of a principal applicant and qualifying spouse, civil partner or de facto partner to be assessed together. Publish the family financial methodology, including household size and unavoidable costs. Retain identity, relationship and residence checks. Explain why one earner can satisfy a family's financial condition while two earners cannot combine earnings under the current rules.
4. Establish a residence route not conditional on employment
Create a separate renewable national permission based on lawful residence, established private and family life and individual circumstances, rather than making paid work, 35 hours, self-sufficiency or a salary threshold a condition of every route.
Cover people with disabilities or serious illness, older people, carers, lone parents, students, young adults, people in genuine dependency and other long-resident people outside the economic options. Give weight to work, study, caring and community participation without treating inability to perform paid work as a reason to disregard a person's life here. Include people resident since 2022 without making that year a new exclusion for later arrivals.
Publish eligibility, duration, renewal conditions, labour-market access, family arrangements, treatment of residence for citizenship and review rights. Give an explicit response to the wider Stamp 4 approach proposed by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum (UCSF), rather than treating this petition as only a request to reduce a wage threshold.
5. Allow a staged housing transition
Review ARP and other accommodation exclusions. Decide non-housing eligibility before requiring an irreversible move, then permit a verified staged transition with safeguards against homelessness. Consider genuine tenancy, licence and hosting arrangements under published conditions; do not assume the private rental market is available to every applicant. Explain the Government's response to the Irish Red Cross proposals on ARP access and alternative humanitarian status.
6. Give reasoned decisions and a usable plan beyond 2028
State plainly whether an additional Irish residence route is being developed for people excluded from TPTS. If yes, identify its intended scope, responsible unit, legal basis and timetable. If no, say so and explain the alternatives and the legal and humanitarian reasons for that decision. A statement that TP lasts until 4 March 2028 is not, by itself, a post-TP residence plan.
Publish what will happen if TP ends while return remains unsafe or an individual cannot lawfully or reasonably be returned. Address residence and work during assessment, continuity for children and families, health and caring needs, review rights and protection against unlawful removal. Distinguish failure of an economic test from a lawful return decision.
Explain the actual in-country alternatives for those still excluded, including the conditions and consequences of international protection, employment, family and study routes. Do not leave people to infer that they must apply through the International Protection Office, leave Ireland or begin again elsewhere. International protection must be assessed on its own merits; failing an earnings test is not itself a protection ground, and admission to another country must not be assumed.
Publish which alternatives were considered and why they were accepted, rejected or deferred. Address the UCSF and Red Cross recommendations, the EU transition recommendation and comparative approaches in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Explain the evidence for the earnings and time limits, regional and sectoral effects, equality impacts, and the assessment of existing relationships, community ties and the disruption of established lives.
We request an itemised substantive response within 30 calendar days of receipt and a published post-TP roadmap within 90 days, well before protection ends. These are requested accountability deadlines, not deadlines already imposed by law. Identify accepted measures, rejected measures, unfinished decisions, reasons and dates for the next decisions. This petition requests policy decisions and a route people can use, not only acknowledgement of concern.
Comparisons must be accurate
Other European governments are using or developing materially different transition models for displaced Ukrainians. These models do not create rights in Ireland and are not identical. We therefore ask Government to publish which European approaches it examined, which alternatives it rejected, and why the present Irish model was selected.
75
The Issue
To the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Government of Ireland
Three decisions are needed now
- Replace retrospective employment and earnings cut-offs with a fair assessment of current and cumulative circumstances.
- Create workable economic and non-employment residence pathways for people excluded from TPTS, including workers, genuine households and people who cannot meet an employment test.
- Publish a clear post-Temporary-Protection roadmap explaining what permission will be available, to whom, under what conditions, and how decisions can be reviewed.
We request changes to the Temporary Protection Transition Scheme (TPTS) and a defined residence route for people it excludes. This is a nationwide petition concerning Ukrainian beneficiaries of Temporary Protection, without county-based distinctions or a request to remove other qualifying beneficiaries.
The Government should answer a straightforward question: what realistic, lawful route in Ireland will be available to people who have built their lives here but cannot meet TPTS? Explaining that Temporary Protection is temporary does not answer how years of residence, work, relationships, community ties and children's education will be treated. People need decisions they can plan around, not uncertainty until protection expires.
The Department's own Statement of Strategy 2025-2028 commits to "a coherent and sustainable response to the ending of the Temporary Protection Directive" and to "effective pathways in place for Ukrainian people who were granted temporary protection in Ireland."
This petition asks a direct accountability question: what is the effective pathway for people whom TPTS excludes?
The issue is wider than one salary figure
CSO recorded 31,069 beneficiaries from Ukraine with employment earnings in May 2026 and 17,385 school enrolments in the 2025/26 academic year. These are dated participation figures, not a count of people excluded from TPTS.
The Government describes TPTS as supporting work, skills development and independent living. The supplied FAQ measures key conditions against historical dates, uses an individual EUR 29,432 annual gross earnings threshold and closes applications on 30 March 2027. It permits sufficient part-time earnings; it does not impose 40 working hours on everyone.
At the 2026 adult minimum wage, 35 paid hours weekly produce EUR 25,753 over 52 identical paid weeks; 37.5 hours produce EUR 27,592.50; 40 hours produce EUR 29,432. These illustrations exclude additional pay and unpaid reductions. Two otherwise qualifying partners earning EUR 20,000 each cannot pool their earnings for the principal threshold. Neither long service nor an employer's full-time label substitutes for that threshold.
We request the following six changes.
1. Recognise 35-hour work and genuine self-sufficiency as alternatives
Accept genuine lawful paid employment of at least 35 normal weekly hours, across one or more jobs, as an alternative to the annual earnings floor. Do not additionally require EUR 29,432. Verify contracts, actual employment, normal hours and compliance with applicable minimum-pay rules. Apply this nationally.
Also create a transparent household self-sufficiency assessment based on sustainable lawful resources and reasonable housing and living costs, without a fixed working-hours or individual salary requirement. Receipt of lawful child-related, health, disability or temporary supports should not automatically disqualify a household. The assessment should focus on whether ordinary living and housing costs can be met sustainably.
Non-receipt of support must not become a universal condition for the other routes. Do not require anyone to surrender lawful benefits, healthcare or education to pursue this petition's proposals. The 35-hour figure is our proposed access criterion, not a universal legal definition of full-time work.
Why 35 hours?
Thirty-five hours is not presented as a universal legal definition of full-time employment. It is a practical policy benchmark already used by the Irish State. Most civil servants work 35 net hours per week, and the Government-approved Independent Hours Body established a standardised minimum 35-hour net working week across the Civil and Public Service.
At the 2026 adult minimum wage, the TPTS threshold of EUR 29,432 is mathematically equivalent to 40 paid hours per week for 52 weeks. That arithmetic does not establish why Government selected the threshold. It is precisely why the Department should publish its methodology and explain why a 35-hour employment alternative was not used.
2. Remove both six-month restrictions and assess present circumstances
Remove the fixed historical six-month employment and earnings tests, including the requirement to have been working by 30 March 2026. Do not replace them with another mandatory six-month waiting period. Assess genuine current employment, contracts, available payroll and work history, including progression from lower-paid work, Tús or Community Employment, with proportionate checks against fictitious arrangements.
If Government decides to retain an employment-duration requirement, the minimum alternative should be a rolling or cumulative assessment up to the date of application, rather than a single retrospective cut-off tied to 30 March 2026. Current sustainable employment and documented progression should be capable of being assessed.
Remove the six-month-only application window and the absolute 30 March 2027 closure. Keep applications available while TP remains active and provide a published transition process beyond its end. Assess the one-year residence condition at application rather than permanently fixing it to September 2025. These are separate requested amendments, not existing entitlements.
A change of employer must not erase earlier work. Distinguish a genuine gap between jobs from sickness or leave within an ongoing contract. Adjust both hours and earnings for credible short sickness absences, statutory leave, justified unpaid leave and variable schedules. Where a medical certificate was not obtained, accept proportionate alternatives such as contemporaneous notifications, absence records, explanations and employer confirmation of recorded facts. Do not require altered payslips or invented medical evidence. Statutory sick-pay conditions remain separate.
3. Assess genuine couples as households
Allow verified employment and self-employment earnings of a principal applicant and qualifying spouse, civil partner or de facto partner to be assessed together. Publish the family financial methodology, including household size and unavoidable costs. Retain identity, relationship and residence checks. Explain why one earner can satisfy a family's financial condition while two earners cannot combine earnings under the current rules.
4. Establish a residence route not conditional on employment
Create a separate renewable national permission based on lawful residence, established private and family life and individual circumstances, rather than making paid work, 35 hours, self-sufficiency or a salary threshold a condition of every route.
Cover people with disabilities or serious illness, older people, carers, lone parents, students, young adults, people in genuine dependency and other long-resident people outside the economic options. Give weight to work, study, caring and community participation without treating inability to perform paid work as a reason to disregard a person's life here. Include people resident since 2022 without making that year a new exclusion for later arrivals.
Publish eligibility, duration, renewal conditions, labour-market access, family arrangements, treatment of residence for citizenship and review rights. Give an explicit response to the wider Stamp 4 approach proposed by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum (UCSF), rather than treating this petition as only a request to reduce a wage threshold.
5. Allow a staged housing transition
Review ARP and other accommodation exclusions. Decide non-housing eligibility before requiring an irreversible move, then permit a verified staged transition with safeguards against homelessness. Consider genuine tenancy, licence and hosting arrangements under published conditions; do not assume the private rental market is available to every applicant. Explain the Government's response to the Irish Red Cross proposals on ARP access and alternative humanitarian status.
6. Give reasoned decisions and a usable plan beyond 2028
State plainly whether an additional Irish residence route is being developed for people excluded from TPTS. If yes, identify its intended scope, responsible unit, legal basis and timetable. If no, say so and explain the alternatives and the legal and humanitarian reasons for that decision. A statement that TP lasts until 4 March 2028 is not, by itself, a post-TP residence plan.
Publish what will happen if TP ends while return remains unsafe or an individual cannot lawfully or reasonably be returned. Address residence and work during assessment, continuity for children and families, health and caring needs, review rights and protection against unlawful removal. Distinguish failure of an economic test from a lawful return decision.
Explain the actual in-country alternatives for those still excluded, including the conditions and consequences of international protection, employment, family and study routes. Do not leave people to infer that they must apply through the International Protection Office, leave Ireland or begin again elsewhere. International protection must be assessed on its own merits; failing an earnings test is not itself a protection ground, and admission to another country must not be assumed.
Publish which alternatives were considered and why they were accepted, rejected or deferred. Address the UCSF and Red Cross recommendations, the EU transition recommendation and comparative approaches in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Explain the evidence for the earnings and time limits, regional and sectoral effects, equality impacts, and the assessment of existing relationships, community ties and the disruption of established lives.
We request an itemised substantive response within 30 calendar days of receipt and a published post-TP roadmap within 90 days, well before protection ends. These are requested accountability deadlines, not deadlines already imposed by law. Identify accepted measures, rejected measures, unfinished decisions, reasons and dates for the next decisions. This petition requests policy decisions and a route people can use, not only acknowledgement of concern.
Comparisons must be accurate
Other European governments are using or developing materially different transition models for displaced Ukrainians. These models do not create rights in Ireland and are not identical. We therefore ask Government to publish which European approaches it examined, which alternatives it rejected, and why the present Irish model was selected.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 5 October 2026