How do I qualify for EU Fee Status?

If you are applying for an undergraduate course and you are uncertain whether you should be paying EU or non-EU fees, you can use our undergraduate EU Fee Eligibility Reckoner to help determine your status.

Alternatively, the undergraduate Fee Eligibility Flowchart offers a visual guide on how eligibility for undergraduate EU and Non-EU fees is determined.

For postgraduate EU fee status, please refer to the postgraduate EU Fee Status section of the page.

Please note that using the eligibility reckoner does not provide an official assessment of your eligibility for EU Fee Status.

An EU, EEA, Swiss or British passport, or EU, EEA, Swiss or British citizenship, does not grant automatic entitlement to EU fees. Applicants must meet the EU fee rate conditions.

Who is eligible for EU Fee Status?

If you fall under one of the conditions below, you may be eligible for EU fee status.

• I am an EU citizen and have always lived in the EU, EEA, UK or Swiss Confederation.
• I am an EU citizen, but my place of birth is outside of the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation or the United Kingdom.
• I am an EU citizen and have lived outside of the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation, United Kingdom for three out of the last five years, but I have completed 5 years of primary or secondary education in the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation or the United Kingdom.
• I am a non-EU citizen, but I have been living and working within the EU for three of the last five years (please see the Definitions).
• I am a child or spouse of non-EU diplomatic staff based in the EU.
• I am a child or spouse of an Irish State Official, and comparable EU, EEA or Swiss State official, who reside outside the EU on a diplomatic or consular mission.
• I am in the asylum process for three of the last five years.

Undergraduate EU Fee Status

When applying to university in Ireland, applicants are classified as either EU or International (Non-EU) applicants.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide full and accurate information in an application and to notify the University of any changes or corrections to the original application.

If you are ordinarily resident in the EU/EEA/Swiss Confederation/United Kingdom for a minimum of three of the five years prior to registration at Trinity College Dublin, you may be entitled to pay fees at the standard EU rate.

For students under the age of 23, your eligibility for EU fees will be based upon whether your parent’s have been ordinarily resident in the EU/EEA/ Swiss Confederation/United Kingdom for a minimum of three of the five years prior to registration at Trinity.

If you are not, or have not been, ordinarily resident for the minimum required period in the EU/EEA/ Swiss Confederation/United Kingdom, please check our exceptions section. If none of the exceptions apply to you, you must pay tuition fees at the international (non-EU) rate.

Students who accept a non-EU place on an undergraduate programme are not eligible to be assessed for EU fees for the duration of that course. Students may be reassessed for future courses. 

Please note:

We do not accept P60, P45, tax credit certificate or payslips as valid documentation. Application where these documents are submitted in place of a Statement of Liability (P21)/F11 will be rejected.

All supporting documents must be in English.

If you have any queries about your fee status, please contact Academic Registry through AskTCD using the ‘Log an Academic Registry Enquiry’ button.

Postgraduate EU Fee Status

A postgraduate EU application is one made by a person who fulfils one or more of the following criteria:

• Ordinarily resident in the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation or United Kingdom and who has received full-time further or higher education in the EU for three of the five years immediately preceding admission or
• Ordinarily resident in the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation or United Kingdom and has worked full-time in the EU for three of the five years immediately preceding admission or
• Holds a passport from an EU State, EEA, Swiss Confederation or United Kingdom and has received full-time further or higher education in the EU for three of the five years immediately preceding admission.

Applications from children of the following are treated as EU applications:

• EU government officials living abroad
• Semi-state officials who are on assignment in countries outside the EU
• Volunteer development workers
• Certain EU officials as approved by the Department of Foreign Affairs

If you have any queries about your fee status, please contact Academic Registry through AskTCD using the ‘Log an Academic Registry Enquiry’ button.

Exceptions

• The dependents of non-EU diplomatic staff based in the EU are considered non-EU for application purposes but are entitled to EU fees (not free fees). This includes the minor/dependent adult children who are in full time post-primary education and the spouse/the civil partner of the non-EU diplomatic staff. 
• Students who are the children of semi-state agency officials, government officials, Irish officials working with the UN, and children of volunteer development workers who reside in non-EU countries as a result of their appointments must note that as and from September 2013, the exemption from meeting normal EU residency requirements will cease. The Department of Education and Skills has withdrawn this concession for legal reasons (30 January 2013).  
• Minor and dependent adult children who are in full time post-primary education, the spouse/the civil partner of Irish State Officials, and comparable EU/EEA/Swiss State officials, who reside with that State official while posted outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland on diplomatic or consular missions, shall be deemed to be resident in their home EU, EEA or Swiss State for the purposes of the residency clause of the Free Fees Initiative.

Definitions

Ordinarily resident

• Being resident (i.e. physically living) in the EU, EEA, Swiss Confederation, or the United Kingdom for the purposes of taxation for a minimum of 183 days in any one calendar year for a minimum of 3 years.
• Residency can also be determined by place of education.
• Students must be ordinary resident (educated) in the EU/EEA/Swiss Confederation/United Kingdom for 3 of the 5 years upon entering third level.

Non- EU student

• A student who has been classified as non-EU for fee-paying purposes after assessment cannot thereafter change or amend that status within a programme.
• Applicant who has been classified as non-EU for Undergraduate registration may be reassessed for graduate registration.

Applicants aged 23 or over

• Applicants aged 23 or over from 1 September of the year of entry to a course are considered independent, mature applicants.

The European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss Confederation

• The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 countries. It operates an internal (or single) market which allows free movement of goods, capital, services and people between member states.

The EU countries are:

• Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) are:

• The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
• This allows these countries to be part of the EU’s single market.

Switzerland:

• Is neither an EU nor EEA member but is part of the single market.
• This means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the Republic of Ireland as other EEA nationals.

Brexit

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Common Travel Area (CTA) was signed between Ireland and the UK in May (2019). The MoU acknowledged the importance of education noting that “the CTA affords Irish and British citizens the right of access to all levels of education and training, and associated student supporting each other’s State on terms no less favourable than those for citizens of that State.

In terms of higher education, this means that notwithstanding Brexit, UK students will still be eligible for the same fee structures as EU students in Ireland.

For the free fee’s initiative, once students meet all other criteria as set out in the Free Fees Initiative:

• Students with UK nationality will continue to be eligible under the nationality criteria of the free fees scheme.
• UK residency will continue to contribute towards fulfilling the ordinarily resident criteria of the scheme.

P21 & P60 documents

• A P21 is an accumulated statement of total income, tax credit and tax paid for a particular tax year for all employment in the tax year. It also includes tax paid by spouse if jointly assessed. For this reason, it is used to make a judgement about residence. You can request your P21 at revenue.ie.
• A P60 is a single document issued by an employer for an individual in a single employment. It is issued if a person was in a particular employment on 31st December of the year. It will not include details of any other employment or income or of spousal income. It can be issued even if a person was only employed for the last week of the year so therefore is not a reliable indicator of residence and cannot be accepted for Fee Assessment purposes.

You can request P21 from Revenue under the My PAYE tab on the Revenue website.

It is important to understand that the P60 is not a Revenue assessment of a person's tax position and is not an indication of final tax liability for the year. The P60 merely provides a summary of the tax, PRSI and USC deducted by a single employer in the tax year.

If the residency documentation is in the name of your husband/wife but cites that there is a spouse, you must provide a marriage certificate.

Please note that all supporting documents must be in English.