Written answers

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

Department of Justice and Equality

Residency Permits

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will investigate a case in which there has been an inordinate delay by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in issuing a resident card, which has caused severe disruption to the life and livelihood of a person (details supplied). [5422/17]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances 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 letter recently issued to the person concerned in relation to the granting of the person's permission to remain in the state for a period of five years, expiring on 1 February 2022, under the provisions of the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015. While the letter sets out clearly the person's entitlement to enter employment and engage in business during that period, I understand that INIS has also advised the person concerned that a provisional appointment to register the permission has been made on 9 February 2017 at the Burgh Quay registration office.

Insofar as the issue raised by the Deputy concerning waiting times is concerned, the appointment booking system for the Burgh Quay registration office was introduced last September. Since its launch almost 40,000 bookings have been made for dates as far out as March 2017. Appointments are released Monday – Friday at 10am for dates 9 weeks in the future. A small number of near-term appointments are released every afternoon at 2:30pm. Applicants who need an appointment within the next 2-3 weeks are advised to check the website at 2:30pm daily. The Department recognises that emergency situations can arise. Where such emergency situations arise they are dealt with on a case by case basis and enquiries should be forwarded to burghquayregoffice@justice.ie. Since September 2016, the Burgh Quay registration office has facilitated in the region of 700 emergency appointments.

Approximately 5,500 appointments were made available through the appointment booking system for January 2017. This is over 2,000 more appointments than the number of applicants registered in either January 2016 or January 2015. In total over 3,200 additional appointments have been made available from January 2017 to end of March 2017 than the number of applicants who registered in this period in either 2015 or 2016. This figure will rise in the coming weeks as additional near-term appointments for February and March are released.

The Burgh Quay registration office are currently advising applicants to book an appointment up to ten weeks before their permission expires. We would advise applicants who have not managed to secure an appointment before the expiry of their permission to check the website daily at 2:30pm to try and get an earlier appointment.

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.

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