Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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14. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update regarding changes made to the J1 visa programme. [45036/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The US J1 Summer Work and Travel programme has been a tremendously successful part of the Irish-US bilateral relationship for almost 50 years, with 150,000 Irish third level students having experienced the US through the programme over that time.

The independent US sponsoring bodies managing the great majority of Irish J1 participants have introduced a requirement for citizens of Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) countries, such as Ireland, the UK, France and the Czech Republic to have a job pre-arranged for the summer 2016 programme.

In light of these changes I would strongly urge prospective Irish J1 students to engage with the J1 programme as early as possible, to enable them to understand and meet the application requirements, so that they can have a rewarding J1 experience in summer 2016.

We will remain in close contact with the US State Department, the US Embassy and with all relevant agencies and bodies as preparations continue for the summer 2016 programme.