Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of an application for a visa by a person (details supplied). [7173/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that a 'join family' visa application from the person referred to by the Deputy was submitted to the INIS Visa Office in Dublin on 18 January, 2016.

I am further advised that a business target of 6 months for long term 'join family' applications, where the spouse is an Irish national, was established following the publication of the ‘Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification’. The Visa Office endeavours to have applications of this nature processed earlier than this. Where all the required supporting documentation has been received and no queries remain outstanding, a decision can be expected by mid-summer 2016. However, this is not always possible. As the Deputy will appreciate in order to be fair to all applicants, applications are processed in order by date received in this Office.

The Deputy may wish to note that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the 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 the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.

In addition, applicants may themselves e-mail queries directly to INIS (visamail@justice.ie).