Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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286. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in determination of application for visa in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51431/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the visa (join partner) application referred to by the Deputy was lodged at the Irish Embassy Office in Canberra on 13 November 2013. Due to the nature of the application, it cannot be processed by the Embassy under the delegated sanction given by my Department to the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade to process certain short-stay visas. It was therefore, transferred to the INIS Office in Dublin for consideration. A decision would normally be expected in approximately 8 weeks in a case such as this. In the interests of fairness, visa applications are dealt with strictly in order of date received. The applicant will receive a letter informing him of the decision on his application in due course. It is important to note that the permanent nature of the intended stay in Ireland in this case means that more in-depth consideration of the application will be required. As a consequence the processing will take longer than would be the case for a normal visit visa.

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.