The young Brazilian woman who was jailed overnight after arriving at Dublin Airport a fortnight ago left the country on Monday.
Paloma Aparezida Silva-Carvalho (24) was stopped at Dublin Airport on July 18th when she arrived in Ireland after visiting her fiancé in Switzerland.
Ms Carvalho had planned to visit the Müller-Wieland family in Moycullen, Co Galway, for whom she had worked as an au pair between September 2015 and December 2016.
She was detained by Garda immigration officers and “refused permission to land” on the grounds that she intended to find work in Ireland without a valid employment permit, despite confirmation by the Müller-Wieland that she was in Ireland for a holiday.
Ms Carvalho was taken to Dóchas women’s prison in Mountjoy to be held until the next available flight to Basle at 3am on July 20th.
She was released on July 19th after one night in prison, and given permission to stay in Ireland for 14 days. Her passport was confiscated.
Karin Müller-Wieland, who drove her former au pair to the airport to catch her flight on Monday, said Ms Carvalho was “terrified” about returning to Dublin Airport, where she retrieved her passport.
Application
Ms Müller-Wieland received confirmation from the Department of Justice last Friday that Ms Carvalho had been “refused leave to land” and would have to leave Ireland on or before August 2nd, 2017.
In an email dated July 28th, Ms Müller-Wieland was told that “should Ms Carvalho seek entry to the State again at a future point, her application will be assessed on its own merits taking all relevant information into consideration at that time”.
It said her immigration history would be kept on record but would “not preclude her seeking permission to land in the future”.
The email added that “immigration officers respect the dignity of all persons they engage with, and carry out their functions with professionalism and care”.
According to one legal source, under “refusal of leave to land” Ms Carvalho may face additional questioning on return trips to Ireland or visits to the UK, but should not encounter problems in other EU countries.
However, Ms Müller-Wieland expressed concern that Ms Carvalho would be unable to return to Ireland, and could face severe interrogation from EU immigration officials in the future.
"From what we understand it doesn't mean she won't be able to enter again but there'll be a high suspicion index in any country. I can understand there is a high level of people trying to get in illegally, but Paloma had job interviews in Brazil in October. They got it wrong, they got the wrong person. It was human error.
Dignity
“The State has a right to be suspicious, but they have a human duty to maintain someone’s dignity at all times. I think a public apology for this is in order.”
Ms Müller-Wieland said her former au pair had hoped to return to Ireland in the future to continue studying English.
"At the moment she's not feeling very inclined to return to the Republic of Ireland, but she's hoping maybe to return to the North of Ireland or England to continue her studies."
Ms Carvalho flew from Dublin Airport to Zurich on Monday evening where she met her fiance. She is then due to go to Portugal, where she will meet her parents who will accompany her home to Brazil.
