A CLAIM THAT 1% of the Indian population will move to Ireland under a “new EU open door to India policy” has been viewed online tens of thousands of times despite referring to a policy that does not exist.

The EU and India recently agreed on a free trade agreement at the end of January, though that agreement will not come into force until it is approved by the EU council and parliament, as well as India’s Council of Ministers.

That plan concerns the trade of goods and services, but there is no reason to describe it as an “open door policy” for immigration.

However, at the summit where this trade agreement was announced, a “memorandum of understanding” for an EU–India Comprehensive Framework of Cooperation on Mobility was also agreed.

This informal memo is hoped to “facilitate the mobility of skilled workers, young professionals and seasonal works in shortage sectors.” But, other than plans to open an office in India to advise about EU visas, details are scant.

Although the details of these agreements have not been confirmed and are not publicly known, some online commentators have used the lack of detail to spread misinformation about Indian immigration to Ireland.

“If just 1% of Indians move to Ireland (this will happen under the new EU open door to India policy), then Ireland will be 3/4 Indians, and Indians will own the island,” reads a 13 February post on X by a user (who says they are from Florida).

In replies to his own post, which has been viewed more than 32,700 times to date, the owner of the account also posted a racist caricature of an Indian.

A screenshot of that X post was posted to an Irish Facebook group, Clonmel Concerned Residents, where it accumulated more than 300 likes and was shared more than 60 times. The comment on that post attracted multiple conspiracy theories, including one featuring an antisemitic meme.

But there is no “new EU open door to India policy”; the post is likely referring to the Comprehensive Framework of Cooperation on Mobility, or the EU-India trade agreement, which has already been the target of conspiracy theories by far-right groups.

But the details given in the post are simply fiction. Although the full texts of the recent agreements have not been made public, no official communications so far have indicated that they would allow free movement between India and the EU.

Details released by the government of India indicate that the free trade agreement includes a “regime for temporary entry and stay for professionals” in certain subsectors.

The memorandum of understanding is, in the words of the Irish justice minister, “a non-legally binding text setting out broad principles concerning the mobility of highly skilled workers, seasonal workers, students, and researchers within existing EU migration rules”.

Other Irish government statements indicated that this would amount to faster visa processing, as well as the setting up of an information office in India. 

The Indian government said the memo was said to enable “continuing conducive framework for entry of India students to study and avail post study work visa”.

Work, business, and student visas are already available for Indians coming to Ireland, and it is unclear whether or how these new agreements may change the situation.

Furthermore, the claim that 1% of the population of India will move to Ireland is unlikely.

Firstly, the Irish government would simply not give out 14.7 million visas in a year.

Secondly, any EU agreement would apply, as the name suggests, to the European Union as a whole, not just Ireland. Ireland comprises about 1.2% of the EU’s overall population.

If Indians were to move to EU countries in proportion to their current population, the vast majority would be going to other EU countries, not Ireland.

The figures in the social media post rely on the assumption that more than 83% of the entire Indian population would move suddenly to the EU.

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