Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are trying to make progress on the E3 visa process. I am sure the Deputy is familiar with this facility, which is available to Australian nationals. It enables them to get visas to work and live in the United States.

There is an allocation each year. We are working with friends in Congress and the Senate to try to allow Irish people to use unused visas, of which there are between 3,000 and 4,000 and sometimes more each year. We are trying to progress legislation that would give Irish people who want to travel to the United States the opportunity to be able to do so with the new visa entitlement, with reciprocal arrangements for US citizens who want to come to Ireland. That is the area where we can make progress in the short term but there is a broader challenge of the thousands of undocumented across the US who are concerned about their future. We continue to raise the issue but immigration is a hugely divisive issue on Capitol Hill. It is, therefore, difficult to get the legislative change that we would like to see in the short term.

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