Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if there is a moratorium in place on applications for long term residency, which have seen no movement since at least September 2007 at which time his parliamentary question replies indicated that applications from July 2006 were being dealt with, which is still the case according to his current parliamentary question replies; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties this is causing for applicants, who were told at the time of their application to expect much shorter processing times; if he will take steps to speed up processing of these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4327/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Long term residency is an administrative scheme that was introduced in May 2004 and is focused on persons who have been legally resident in the State for over five years on the basis of work permit/work authorisation/work visa conditions. Such persons may apply to the Immigration Division of my Department for a five year residency extension. In that context they may also apply to be exempt from employment permit requirements.

The dependants of the aforementioned, who have been legally resident in the State for over five years may also apply for long term residency. This particular long term permission does not grant an exemption from employment permit requirements to any such dependants.

Time spent in the State on student conditions cannot be counted towards long term residency.

While applications for long term residency are under consideration, the person concerned should ensure that their permission to remain in the State is kept up to date.

Information on the website is updated on a regular basis indicating the current processing time.

Apart from long term residency, the staff in General Immigration Division also process a wide variety of applications from non-EEA nationals seeking to reside in the State on various grounds.

There has been a continuous increase in the number of applications being received since the introduction of the long term residency scheme in May 2004. However, the Deputy will appreciate that these applications are dealt with in the context of the overall workload facing the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service at any given time.

The administrative scheme for long term residency will be established on a statutory basis in accordance with the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.