David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has asked me to thank Senator Colm Burke for raising this matter which I know is very important to so many people who have come from abroad to work within our healthcare system. Their contribution to our healthcare system and the services they provide is much valued and appreciated. The Minister fully understands how important it is for them to be accompanied by their family. In that context, it is appropriate that our immigration system should seek to ensure visa applications are processed as quickly as possible bearing in mind the time needed to ensure all appropriate checks and assessments are undertaken.

The Minister is mindful that Ireland’s economic interests require that our immigration system be competitive in its dealings with sought-after, highly-skilled migrants, such as medical and nursing practitioners. However, as with any immigration system worldwide, there is also an obligation on us to balance those interests and ensure that any sponsor has a proven and sustained capacity to earn sufficient income to provide for the needs of his or her dependants.

There are essentially two forms of "join family" visa. The first relates in the main to family members of an Irish citizen. This process requires that the Irish family member sponsoring the applicant must demonstrate he or she can support the applicant without undue recourse to public resources or services. The policy document on non-EEA family reunification first published in December 2013, and subsequently updated in December 2016, contains a stated business target that such visa applications to join Irish citizens should be dealt with within a period of six months from the date of the application. At present, such applications are being dealt with within four months in our Dublin visa office.

The second form of application relates to family members of non-EEA national sponsors seeking to join the sponsor in Ireland. Based on what the Senator has said I assume the applicant is in this category. Non-EEA national sponsors are divided into a number of individual categories under the policy document on family reunification I mentioned already. Sponsors who fall under category A include, for example, critical-skill employment permit holders, researchers and full-time, non-locum doctors. Category B sponsors include general employment permit holders.

Category A sponsors are eligible to sponsor applications for immediate family reunification, including being accompanied by family members on arrival in the State. Applications of this type are processed on an expedited basis in our visa offices, in as far as volumes of applications allow. Persons who fall under category B are eligible to sponsor applications for family reunification after 12 months. Although processed on an expedited basis, the business target for category A and Irish citizen sponsors for applications to be decided is within six months, while a 12-month processing target applies in respect of category B applications from the point of receipt.

The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, of the Department of Justice and Equality received in excess of 125,000 entry visa applications in 2017, with almost 8,000 of this total being applications from persons seeking to join and reside with family members in the State. In India, for example, there was an exponential increase this year in the number of "join family" applications received at our New Delhi visa office from spouses and family members of persons granted work permits in Ireland. Approximately 50% of these applications are from persons entitled to apply for immediate family reunification. Additional staffing was assigned to that office during the year to increase the processing work there. I understand almost 90% of such applications are granted.

I understand too that category A applications are currently being processed within six months in that office, including critical-skills applications within four weeks. Steps have also been taken to streamline category B processing which currently stands at around 15 months so that the processing time will be brought back within the 12-month target as quickly as possible.

More generally, INIS has advised that the visa service is currently experiencing an increase in the number of visa applications across most categories of persons wishing to come to Ireland for a variety of purposes and in line with increased economic activity generally. Notwithstanding, processing times are on a par and in many cases have been significantly improved upon compared with those at the corresponding date last year.

The central concern, as with all visa services worldwide, in deciding on visa applications, is to strike an appropriate balance between protecting the country’s vital national interests by maintaining an effective immigration regime while at the same time facilitating travel for those who meet the criteria. Each visa application is therefore decided on its own merits taking all factors into account.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, I again thank the Senator for the opportunity to speak on this matter and I hope this brings some clarity for the people involved,