Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 249: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the procedure to be followed in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40729/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed that it would appear that the person concerned departed the State without having firstly secured a re-entry visa. Contact was made on behalf of the person concerned by a family member who was advised by a Visa Official that the only option available in such circumstances was that a fresh visa application be made, whilst outside of the State.

A visa application for the person concerned was received in the Visa Office, Dublin on the 14 November 2011. Given the circumstances the application was dealt with in an expeditious manner. A Visa Officer considered the application and refused the granting of the visa sought on the 15 November 2011 for the following reasons:

1. There was insufficient documentation submitted in support of the application. The Visa Officer noted that a detailed explanation was not provided as to why the person concerned travelled outside the State without a valid Garda registration card or a re-entry visa;

2. There was an inconsistency noted in that the recently issued passport submitted by the Applicant had not been signed.

As is the case with all refused visa applications, the refusal decision and the reasons for that decision were sent by way of letter to the applicant. In addition, and in common with all visa applications refused in Dublin, the refusal decision and the reasons for that decision were posted promptly on-line (in a format confidential to the applicant). It is open to the person concerned to submit an appeal within two months of the date of refusal, in this case before the 15 January 2012. Guidelines on the visa appeals process is available on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (www.inis.gov.ie).

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.