Mr. John Stahl:

I have received several calls over the past few weeks on student visas from Ireland, as well as from individuals in the US who are looking to return home. The are looking for the visa process to come back so they can begin their studies in the fall, starting in August and September. Those with F student visas and M student visas are exempt under the regional travel ban. They are able to travel if they have a visa in place. The issue, though, is getting a new visa or renewing a visa at the moment because of the backlogs at the US Embassy in Dublin. The difficulty is there. They are prioritising those visas, among other things. The problem is that they do not have as many appointment slots as they usually would. The difficulty is getting people in within the timeframes that are needed. Most of these students seem to be working closely with their schools to set up alternate arrangements on a remote basis. As a plan B, some who are not able to get through will attend school remotely, from within Ireland, for the initial part of the semester. It does not seem like everybody will have the opportunity to get into the US Embassy in Ireland before the end of the summer to process these visas.

I also wanted to say that New York State, in its recent budget, passed a few relief measures for undocumented people in the form of rent assistance and an emergency relief fund. These will be rolled out starting next month. We at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center will be helping individuals, particularly those who are undocumented, who are ineligible for unemployment and other pandemic assistance and stimulus assistance over the past year. We will be helping those people. That will bring many individuals forward to seek that financial assistance. Financial assistance is one of the bigger needs among members of the undocumented community. Financial assistance is needed over anything else. They will be issuing payments of up to $15,000 to undocumented individuals across New York State.