30/03/2022
Updated Pre-arrival Information and FAQs
10/12/2021
The Irish authorities are now recognising CoronaVac and SinoPharm vaccines:
**The definition of a ‘vaccinated person’ for the purpose of travelling to Ireland has been expanded to include:
For the complete and updated list of recognized vaccines in Ireland please visit this website.
20/09/2021
We were delighted to have our first new students arriving for in person classes at the Emerald Cultural Institute today.
We are also happy to announce that from today onwards we are open for all new English language students and the staff and team are look forward to welcoming international students from all countries.
14/09/2021
We are delighted to announce that we can reopen for new international students from Monday September 20th 2021.
Our existing students returned to our Palmerston Park school on September 6th and all the students, staff and teachers were thrilled to be back for face-to-face classes.
The health and safety of all our staff and students remain our priority and we continue to adhere to all the latest government protocols and guidelines as part of the Failte Ireland Covid-19 Safety Charter.
For further information about our courses or our reopening, please contact us on emerald@eci.ie or +35314973361
To view Emerald’s Covid-19 Protocol & Guidelines, see here:
To view Emerald’s Pre-arrival information & FAQs, see here:
For INIS (immigration) FAQs, see here:
At this time, the minimum age required to attend our courses for adult students is 18.
17/06/21
Minister for Justice announces lifting of temporary visa restrictions for Ireland
• From 16th June 2021 restrictions, including the suspension of visa-free travel, are lifted for nationals of Brazil and other South American countries
• Travellers arriving into Ireland must continue to comply fully with all public health measures, including completing a Covid-19 Passenger Locator Form, pre-arrival PCR test and quarantine in a designated facility or at home
• Advice against non-essential travel remains in place
• Processing of long-stay visa applications has resumed
16/04/21
Level 5 restrictions currently remain in place for Higher and Adult Education including English Language Schools until May 4th. Our lessons are continuing online during this time. The government is due to review the situation at the end of April and we will provide a further update as soon as this is available. We hope to be able to resume face-to-face lessons in May. During this time we continue to offer a wide-range of popular online options for adults and junior students.
For information on the latest travel restrictions in place in Ireland, PCR test and home quarantine requirements, or mandatory hotel quarantine (for travelers from Category 2 countries), see below:
https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/general-covid-19-travel-advisory/
The Government has introduced a number of short-term restrictions on international travel. Visa-free travel to Ireland for nationals of South Africa and all countries in South America has been suspended. The Department of Justice has temporarily ceased accepting new visa/preclearance applications globally (with limited exemptions).
For students currently in Dublin, information on the latest immigration updates are available here:
For any queries, please contact emerald@eci.ie, emeraldculturalinstitute@gmail.com or on WhatsApp +353833647852
31/12/20
In line with the latest government announcement made yesterday evening, classes next week from Monday 4th January will be held online while we await further clarification from the relevant authorities.
Teachers will be in touch before the start of the lessons with the relevant details.
Please contact us on emeraldculturalinstitute@gmail.com if you have any questions and we will be in touch again next week with further updates.
21/10/20
The Irish government has announced that from Wednesday 21st of October, Ireland will be moving to Level 5 of the Plan for Living with Covid-19, for a period of 6 weeks. Under Level 5, higher and adult education is required to move its activities primarily online. Therefore for the next six weeks, Emerald will be transferring all lessons online.
Our online programmes have been ongoing since March and, from September, have been offered with the hybrid model. We are proud to be able to smoothly transition our current students in Dublin to online tuition, offering the same level of teaching and service as our face-to-face classes. Students will continue to avail of the same number of teacher-contact hours as in the classroom and all support services will be available, including our virtual social and cultural programme.
29/07/20
We are delighted to announce that the Emerald Cultural Institute will be re-opening our Palmerston Park school for face-to-face classes on Monday 31st of August 2020. We have been working very hard behind the scenes to implement all the guidelines and procedures as outlined by the Irish Government and we are also following international best practice in our industry. We are working closely with our staff and host families to ensure that we can safely welcome our students and staff back to our school and accommodation.
07/05/20
On May 1st the Irish Government outlined a comprehensive plan for the re-opening of business and society on a phased basis between May 18th and August 10th.
According to the plan announced, ELT schools must remain closed to students until Stage 5 which sees the gradual re-opening of most businesses in Ireland. This stage will be from August 10th as things stand and so this gives us a date to plan towards.
However, the government has also indicated that schools and colleges may not return until September. We are seeking clarification around the dates and we will provide you with further information as soon as possible.
While schools remain closed we are continuing to run our range of online programmes for our students.
If you need any information about any of our courses or current offers, please do not hesitate to contact us.
10/04/20:
The Irish government has just announced further measures for the containment of Covid-19.
These include an extension of the restrictions already in place for a further three weeks until Tuesday 5th May. Schools will now remain closed until further notice.
We remain committed to the delivery our online lessons and to provide any support you may need during this time. For those of you that had booked holidays for the duration of the closures, please contact us if you would like to return to our online lessons.
24/03/20: The Government of Ireland extended the school closures until 19th April. Students currently attending a course at Emerald can continue to avail of our online lessons. For any questions please contact emerald@eci.ie
For further information from the Department of Education click here
For information from the HSE about Coronavirus click here
For FAQs from INIS click here
23/03/20: For further information from the Irish Department of Education for English language students, please click here
Immigration Permissions 20/03/20
The Department of Justice last night announced that immigration permissions due to expire between 20/03/20 and 20/05/20 will be extended for two months. The renewal of the permission will be on the same basis as the existing permission.
This applies to:
The registration office at Burgh Quay is now closed. If you have not yet had the opportunity to register, it will not be necessary to do so until the offices reopen or alternative arrangements are put in place. Existing appointments will be cancelled. If you are awaiting your first registration and have received permission to enter Ireland on condition that you register at Burgh Quay within 3 months, this renewal also applies.
There is no requirement to register this two month renewal. When registrations resume, the normal fees for registration and renewal will apply.
If your permission expired before 20/03/20, this does not apply to you and the Department will deal with these renewals on a case-by-case basis.
This measure will be kept under review as the Covid-19 situation progresses.
A lot of you may be concerned at the moment about your visas and immigration status and hopefully this new measure is positive and will provide some clarity for you. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at emeraldculturalinstitute@gmail.com
See the link below for further information:
Irish government emergency measures 12/03/20
The Prime Minister of Ireland this morning made an announcement regarding Covid-19:
“Our own National Public Health Emergency Team met last night and has issued new advice to Government. We are acting on that advice today. […] So, from 6pm today, the following measures are being put in place. They will stay in place until March 29th. Schools, colleges, and childcare facilities will close from tomorrow. Where possible, teaching will be done on-line or remotely. Cultural institutions will close.”
The “unprecedented measures to protect public health”, include the closure of language schools
According to this directive, with effect from 18.00 today, Thursday, 12 March 2020 Emerald will close and remain closed until the proposed re-opening date of Monday, 30 March 2020.
The health, safety and well being of our students, staff, host families and partners continues to be of the utmost importance to us in this situation and we are following all the guidelines and advice given by the Irish Departments of Health and Education, the National Public Health Emergency Team and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Current Emerald students will be contacted in the coming days with technical information to continue their course through online lessons. If you have any questions please contact us at emerald@eci.ie
For further guidelines from the Irish Health Service Executive, see the following link: