Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

957. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the delays in the processing of visa applications by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service which has resulted in the withholding of the passports of applicants by the service for prolonged periods of time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22389/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Registration Office of the Immigration Services Delivery (ISD) Division of my Department is currently processing approximately 15,000 applications (accompanied by passports) that have been sent in by people seeking to renew their immigration registration.

Significant demand accumulated during the four months that the Registration Office was closed due to Covid-19. To assist in addressing this demand, a new online system for the renewal of Registrations in the Dublin area was developed and launched on 20 July 2020, enabling applicants to safely engage with the Registration Office without the need to attend in person at Burgh Quay.

Since the launch of the new online renewal system, my Department has received over 22,000 applications from people who would otherwise have had to attend the Registration Office in person. The volume of applications, together with the reduced capacity of the Registration Office due to social distancing requirements, has resulted in longer than anticipated processing times.

My Department recognises the difficulties that delays may cause for applicants and it is providing additional resources to the Registration Office to increase its capacity to handle current demand. Where an applicant urgently needs their passport for travel or other such reasons, they should email the Registration Office at burghquayregoffice@justice.ie and set out the circumstances involved.

Similarly, it is the case that Irish Embassies and Visa Offices abroad would always have a large number of visa applicants’ passports on hand, while their visa applications are being processed. Normally if a person requires their passport back while their application is still being processed, they may contact the embassy or visa office that is processing their application to ask for the passport to be released to them. They must then make arrangements for it to be collected, and, if their application is approved, they would send it back to the embassy/visa office to have the visa added.