Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Troy for raising this important issue and for bringing this matter to the attention of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister. I am happy to set out for the Deputy and the House the measures the Department of Justice is taking to resolve the current issues in processing atypical working scheme applications.

The atypical working scheme was developed by the Department of Justice and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to facilitate specialised, highly skilled employment of a short term nature, normally less than 90 days, which was not supported by the mainstream permit process.

The atypical working scheme is designed to accommodate the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill labour gaps for the benefit of our economy in the short term.

I advise the Deputy that there has been an unprecedented demand for atypical working scheme permissions so far this year and, based on current intake, it is anticipated to be the busiest year since its inception. The number of applications received this year to the atypical working scheme to the end of May was 5,376. This is a massive increase on the same period last year, which saw just 3,260 applications. The current processing time for applications is approximately 35 days. Where there are issues with an atypical application, the atypical working scheme unit strives to return an application for correction, or request further documentation, rather than move to outright refusal. This is to assist with applicants and not to cause any undue cost or delay.

The immigration service regularly holds training seminars on the atypical working scheme application process for stakeholders. The HSE and employer forums have all been invited to attend training seminars that have been organised so far this year. Furthermore, the atypical working scheme unit has made training material available to all recruitment companies or to nursing homes that directly recruit their staff. I also remind the Deputy that where an applicant is granted an atypical permission, the non-national may be required to make an application for a visa in order to travel to the State. All visa applications are processed in chronological order based on the date of receipt. Guidelines on how to apply for a visa are available on the immigration website.

The intention of the atypical working scheme unit is to return the current processing time of 35 days to the business target of 20 working days. I am advised by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, that increased resources have been assigned to processing atypical applications. Additional streamlining measures have also been recently introduced with the aim of reducing processing times.

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