Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 501: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will give any consideration to the proposal to increase the amount of time in respect of which persons can apply for a visa to visit a family member from a BRIC country who is working in this country from 90 days to six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3528/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It would not be possible to exempt a class of persons such as BRIC (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) family members from the existing immigration requirements without a change in primary legislation. Non-EEA nationals, whether visa required or not, may apply to visit the State for up to a maximum of 90 days, including where they are visiting family members.

The 90 day limit is not arbitrary but is linked with the provisions in the 2004 Immigration Act requiring any persons residing in Ireland for more than 3 months to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau or their local registration officer, if outside of Dublin. In effect, beyond the three month threshold they would be seen as residing in Ireland as opposed to merely visiting. That does not prevent persons being permitted to stay beyond 90 days in exceptional circumstances but they must have a specific permission to do so and must go through the registration process, including payment of the necessary fee.

I will nevertheless arrange for my officials to keep this issue under review in the context of the Immigration Residence and Protection Bill 2010 and in policy development generally.

Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 502: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will give any consideration to the proposal to grant a multiple-entry visa system for ten years to family members of persons from BRIC countries who are working here, similar to the system that is currently in use in the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3529/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to keeping Irish visa and immigration procedures under regular review in the light of ongoing experience and the position of the countries which are members of BRICS, ie Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be borne in mind in any such review. The Deputy may wish to note that nationals of Brazil are not required to be in possession of a visa prior to seeking entry to the State. Similarly nationals of South Africa, which joined the BRICS grouping in late 2010, are also visa exempt.

My Department gives regular and comprehensive consideration to the matter of Ireland's visa requirement on nationals of certain non-EEA countries, taking into account all relevant factors including, inter alia, irregular migration risk in relation to each country, exercising reasonable immigration controls, the position of families who may be separated because of those controls and more general factors such as the potential for growth in business, trade and tourism. The Government is also committed to ongoing cooperation between Ireland and the UK in relation to border control and visas in the context of the Common Travel Area (CTA), including working towards convergence of visa-required countries. Therefore, any proposed changes to visa arrangements must be considered in this context.

While it has not been the general practice of the Visa Office, Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service to grant multiple entry visas for periods of up to ten years, it is open to any individual to apply for a visa for any purpose, the onus resting with the applicant to comply with requirements as they apply to the different categories of visas - including multi-entry visas. Guidelines and information on the visa application process are available on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (www.inis.gov.ie).