Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 237: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason persons (details supplied) cannot receive a visa to visit Ireland from the Philippines in view of the fact their parents have been living in Ireland since 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13521/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Based on the information supplied by the Deputy, I am informed by officials in my Department that they can find no record of a current visa application for the persons referred to. When completing an on-line visa application the applicant is assigned a unique visa transaction number. This detail must be provided where a query on the status of a visa application arises. The provision of this unique visa transaction number ensures that accurate and up to date information is provided to the authorised enquirer. If the Deputy can provide the relevant detail, I will ensure officials in the Visa Office make further enquiries and respond to the Deputy directly.

Information on the visa application process is available on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, www.inis.gov.ie. I remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made direct to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.