Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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652. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he discussed changes to the J1 visa programme during his visit to the US for the recent Saint Patrick's Day celebrations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7096/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, 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.

This year, the independent US sponsoring bodies managing the great majority of Irish J1 participants 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 his contact with President Obama in the White House for St Patrick’s Day, the Taoiseach stressed the importance of keeping the number of Irish students taking part in the programme at as high a level as possible and noted that the government continued to work closely with the State Department, the US Embassy in Dublin and relevant agencies to encourage that.

Both I and Minister Deenihan have discussed the change to the J1 programme with US authorities on numerous occasions and there have also been contacts through our Embassy in Washington. I addressed the changes to the J1 programme in contacts with the US Ambassador, during my visit to Washington last October and in a letter to the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in November. In December and January, the US Ambassador and I exchanged letters in which we discussed ways of advising students of the changes to the J1 programme and assisting them in meeting the new application requirements.

The Government’s focus is on maximising Irish participation in the amended programmeand I have instructed our missions in the US to inform their contacts of these changes and encourage those who can to assist potential Irish J1 students in their search for jobs. My Department also supported the publication of a guide for prospective J1 students, produced in conjunction with the Union of Students of Ireland. This was launched by Minister Deenihan in January, in the presence of the US Ambassador.

I would strongly encourage prospective Irish J1 students to move forward as soon as possible to complete the application process so that they can have a rewarding J1 experience in summer 2016. I would also encourage those in the US in a position to do so to assist in finding suitable jobs for prospective J1 students. We remain in close contact with the US authorities and with all relevant agencies and bodies as preparations continue for the summer 2016 programme.