Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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119. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason the processing of family reunification visa applications can take approximately 12 months to determine from the date they are received in the Dublin visa office. [7268/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the time taken to complete "join family" visa applications in the Dublin Visa office is currently 8 months where the sponsor is a non-EEA national and all necessary information is available to the Visa Officer. This is within the INIS business target time of 6 to 12 months for this type of visa application.

Further information on processing times is available on the INIS website at .

More generally, the processing time for visas will vary based on a number of factors such as the number of applications, the complexity of the applications, whether further information or investigation is required, and the resources available. While every effort is made to process such applications as quickly as possible, processing times can inevitably vary.

The central concern, as with all visa services worldwide, in deciding on visa applications is to strike an appropriate balance between protecting the country's vital national interests by maintaining an effective immigration regime, while at the same time facilitating travel for those who meet the criteria. Each visa application is therefore decided on its own merits taking all factors into account.