Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the procedures whereby a person may seek permission to stay and work here when persons from outside the EU are here on a visitors visa; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30040/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that a non-EEA national who is granted a visa to enter the State as a visitor is not permitted to have their status changed, while in the State. A non-EEA national who wishes to work in the State must have secured a job for which an employment permit - issued by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation - has been secured by the person's employer. A so-called "visitor visa" is granted on the understanding that the person's intention is to visit the State as a visitor and in no other capacity, and to leave the State at the expiry of the permission endorsed in their passport by the immigration officer at the port of entry. If it is the intention of a person to attend for interview when in the State, for example, then the person should have sought a visa for that specific purpose.

The rules governing visas are there to uphold the integrity of the immigration system. It is incumbent on persons who wish to enter the State to play their part by not abusing the permission they have been granted.