Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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290. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality regarding spouses of Irish nationals, the number of joint spouse visa applications and applications for permission to remain that have been refused on financial grounds since the introduction of the family reunification guidelines, by nationality of the applicant. [49072/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Around 140 applications for Irish entry visas for the purpose of joining Irish spouse or partners, out of a total of around 840 such applications, have been refused to date in 2014 i.e. since the coming into force of the Family Reunification Guidelines on 1 January 2014. These applications would have been refused for a range of reasons, including, in some cases, the financial capacity of the Irish national sponsor. It would not be possible to provide the breakdown sought by the Deputy without the examination of the file of each individual application which would require the expenditure of an inordinate amount of staff time and resources which could not be justified.

In respect of permission to remain applications, INIS received 416 such applications for residency arising from marriage to an Irish national for the period between 01 January 2014 to 30 November 2014. During this period of time, only 19 applications were refused. None were refused solely on financial grounds since the introduction of the family reunification guidelines referred to by the Deputy.