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The Canadian stand at a Working Abroad expo in the RDS Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

School-leavers and graduates make up larger chunk of emigrants than last year

18-29 year-olds comprise a whopping 78% of Irish visa applicants.

IRISH YOUNG PEOPLE leaving secondary school and graduating from college make up a larger chunk of emigrants than they did last year, according to figures published today.

The annual Migration Index by emigration consultants VisaFirst found that between August last year and this year, 37% of those who applied for visas throughout the world fell into the 18-24 year-old age bracket.

That’s an 11% jump from 2012-2013, when the figure was 26%.

Overall, the 18-29 year-old group accounts for a whopping 78% of visa applications, with Australia, Canada and New Zealand still overwhelmingly popular as destinations.

There were fewer than 50 applications for US work visas, Edwina Shanahan from VisaFirst told TheJournal.ie.

She sees the age trends as a result of successful, longer-term emigration over the last few years:

More and more people are choosing to leave after they finish school and college, whereas the fall in 25-34 year-olds travelling could be accounted for by the fact that people in that age group who have left in the last few years have actually stayed away…

Economic recovery here has meant Irish people are more carefully researching destination countries in terms of their likely salary and quality of life, says Shanahan.

This is a marked change from previous years, when high unemployment in Ireland meant many more “felt they had to leave,” rather than wanted to leave.

As life in Ireland gets back to ‘normal’, more employment will be created and the numbers of people who feel they have to leave the country for work will hopefully decrease.
Where once information on visa options made up 90% of the advice we provided to people, now it may have reduced to 70%, and the rest is comprised of advice on average income in different countries, tax systems and average rent for each country.

While Australia is still by far the most popular destination, VisaFirst has seen a 7% jump in the share of Canadian visa applications.

Unsurprisingly, construction, engineering and trades dominate the professional profile of visa applicants, although there has been a drop in the industry’s share of applications, from 43 to 40%.

That’s a trend Shanahan predicts will continue, as the Irish construction industry recovers in the next few years.

The second and third most prevalent economic sectors were hospitality and nursing/teaching/caregiving, which both experienced a small rise to 10% of visa applications each.

Read: Returned to Ireland? Some emigrants feel out of the loop when they come home>

Only 16% of emigrants were unemployed before they left Ireland>

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16 Comments
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    Mute Tipper Irie
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:10 PM

    What about working individual and family? Where is there increase, you know, the very people of working age who go out and keep the country financed.

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    Mute Colm Kane
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:13 PM

    @Tipper Irie: Tax cuts have been mentioned.

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    Mute Margaret Deacon
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:55 PM

    @Tipper Irie: Be prepared to keep being a tax payer, I’m 70 on a state pension and have to work to top it up

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    Mute Tipper Irie
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    May 23rd 2023, 7:07 PM

    @Colm Kane: always mentioned, but usually smoke, mirrors and clever maths result in a different outcome.

    61
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    Mute Vincent O'Halloran
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    May 24th 2023, 12:04 PM

    @Tipper Irie: Don’t forget that most pensioners worked and paid taxes all their lives and still do. Of course the current working people and families deserve to be locked after.

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    Mute Jen Mc
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:20 PM

    The Government trying to scrape back votes before the next GE by the looks of it.

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    Mute Brian Madden
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:22 PM

    You’d swear there is an election on the horizon

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    Mute Mike Finnegan
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    May 23rd 2023, 7:47 PM

    @Brian Madden: I’d say you’re right. Probably that’s why Joan Collins (right 2change) raised the issue in the Dáil today and pressed Varadkar about it….

    62
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    Mute David Cotter
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:31 PM

    Ahh Leo….more money for the wealthiest demographic in the country
    Try theses (Bertie) manoeuvres all you want but your heading for oblivion

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    Mute Anne Parsons Dunne
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    May 23rd 2023, 8:50 PM

    @David Cotter: Those on a state pension are not wealthy.

    142
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    Mute Deirdre Fitzpatrick
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:36 PM

    Proportional increases to the state pension are scandalous. How can it be right to increase the top rate by €12 but pensioners on a lower amount receive as little as €9 or less. If the pension is increased by a euro amount, then all pensioners should receive it.

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    Mute Criostoir Mac Ranghaill
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:52 PM

    @Deirdre Fitzpatrick: Yes the Bonkers Pension Systems Victims throw under the bus as usual

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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:08 PM

    Leo the liar strikes again.

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    Mute John O Mahony
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    May 23rd 2023, 8:04 PM

    Trying to buy votes, too little to late. Bye bye

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    Mute Spud Geshletter
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:27 PM

    Open comments on the roscommon case, are ye afraid of something.

    124
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    Mute Pato
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    May 23rd 2023, 7:46 PM

    Please no more. The increase will not come into effect for 8 months.
    So we will have endless bollix talk of will it be 5 or the cost of living multiplied by r squared and age action saying it should be a trillion billion and when we are all worn out it will turn out to be less than the price of a pint in Temple Bar.

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:26 PM

    Please sir, may I have some more?

    MORE?

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    Mute Roddy Wyer
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    May 23rd 2023, 6:40 PM

    How is this news? The pension has increased virtually every budget since the foundation of the State.

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    Mute Lord Sea
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    May 23rd 2023, 8:55 PM

    More wobble talk for Leo. Of course there will be an increase, the cost of living has gone through the roof. But this fella wants you to think it was his idea. Spoofer

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    Mute Nigel
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    May 23rd 2023, 9:21 PM

    Could we just get back the levy they took off our pension!!?

    67
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    Mute Damien Leen
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    May 23rd 2023, 9:18 PM

    FO Leo!

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    Mute Emmet Murphy
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    May 23rd 2023, 9:48 PM

    Vote buying begins, with your money and you’ll be paying for it forever!

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    Mute ggg
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    May 24th 2023, 1:01 AM

    Leo is not loyal to the Irish people or the Irish republic.

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    Mute ibrahim Sudane
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    May 23rd 2023, 11:36 PM

    Won’t vote for you even though!

    26
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    Mute Brian
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    May 23rd 2023, 7:43 PM

    I love Leo. Please have my babies Leo.

    24
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    Mute John Mcmahon
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    May 24th 2023, 8:36 AM

    Will it be too late to save them?
    Hopefully not..
    Election next year and a raft of retirements from the front benches this year

    11
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    Mute William slevin
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    May 24th 2023, 12:16 PM

    For those who’s comments are being deleted by the shadow banners and thejournal.ie

    Stop replying to people directly…start new threads when you reply…this means the shadow banners have more work to delete comments individually instead of an entire thread…make as much work as possible for them so they can’t cover all posts…

    Copy your post and when they delete it repost it…if and when they get you banned set up another account…

    Make it impossible to cover all comments that many will end up staying up…they will also have to search for your comments to mass false report them….

    Also if thejournal.ie is blocking certain reposts just change a few letters one in a few words here and their with the letter x…or anything just once theirs some minor changes it will repost…and always when reposting make these minor changes each repost….I think theirs an algorithm that gets alerted to the post deleted and the eventually bans the user….so slightly modify each repost….

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    Mute William slevin
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    May 24th 2023, 12:16 PM

    Delete your cookies to reduce targeted mass false deleting and thejournal.ie algorithm associating your account to those deletes….which helps insidious and maliciously delete comments…

    3
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    Mute William slevin
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    May 24th 2023, 12:16 PM

    The establishment loyalist fascist shadow banners and thejournal.ie are in full steam ahead insidious and malicious deleting of comments that dont tow the line and follow the establishment narrative…

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    Mute William slevin
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    May 24th 2023, 12:17 PM

    Their you have folks….I’ve just proved that theirs a insidious and malicious subset of users on here mass false reporting other users to in order to suppress others and censor you…because they’ve decided their judge, jurry and executioner of what people can and cannot say….their long time users many of them in this insidious and malicious group…they always comment with glee that people’s comments won’t last and when a comment is deleted the comment with such glee again….

    Thejournal.ie needs to permanently ban these people….Thejournal.ie knows who they are and how the harresed many on here deleting their comments and getting people banned…

    I personally have had multiple different attacks on me by these people in their campaign of harresment…I’ve had veiled threats made against…I’ve had my IP attacked….I’ve must have had 3/4 of my comments deleted…I’ve been banned nearly 80 times because of them…they’ve insulted me from the very moment I expressed an opinion they despised and then treated me with derision…

    These are sick people that thejournal.ie needs to deal with…

    This comment section should be a place of free and open discussion once the comments fall with in the guidelines….

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