Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will authorise a person (details supplied) in County Limerick to travel to the UK to renew their Thai passport and return to reside here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26732/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The permission to remain in the State of the person in question expired in July 2007.

An application on behalf of the applicant for residence in the State, on the basis of her marriage on 26 September 2008 to an Irish national was received by the Immigration Services Section of my Department on 30 April 2009.

Applications of this kind, in fairness to all other such applicants, are dealt with in strict chronological order and currently take 6 - 9 months to process. It should be noted that marriage to an Irish national does not confer an automatic right of residence in the State.

The applicant was advised by my Department by letter dated 21 May 2009 that all the pages in her passport were full and that she should obtain a new passport. The applicant does not require authorisation from my Department to travel outside the State to renew her Thai passport. As the applicant's passport is full, my Department cannot at this time consider any application for an entry visa to facilitate her return from outside the State. When the applicant gets her renewed Thai passport, she can apply for an entry visa in the normal manner.