Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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Question 419: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding an application for residency in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30301/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that the visa application referred to by the Deputy was received in the Visa Office, Abuja, Nigeria on 10th April 2012. Following full consideration the visa officer decided to refuse the grant of the visa for the following reasons.

The applicant was seeking to join a person who has been granted "Temporary Leave to Remain" in the State. Persons granted such permission are informed in writing that one of the conditions of accepting the permission is that it does not confer any entitlement or legitimate expectation on any other person, whether related to them or not, to enter or remain in the State. In this case no compelling grounds have been shown as to why an exception to this policy should be made.

In addition, no evidence was shown of a relationship being in existence prior to the visa application. A full account of relationship history including details of all time spent together with evidence such as immigration stamps, photos, evidence of cohabitation and evidence of ongoing contact and financial support should accompany this type of visa application.

As is the case with all refused visa applications, the refusal decision and the reasons for that decision were sent by way of letter to the applicant.

It is open to the person concerned to appeal the decision of the Visa Officer within two months of the date of refusal, in this case before 2nd July, 2012. Guidelines on the appeals process can be found on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (www.inis.gov.ie).

Queries in relation to general immigration matters may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.