Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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524. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if a visa will be granted for a person (details supplied) to come to Ireland to continue their education. [41808/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Long Stay Join Family Visa application for the person referred to by the Deputy was created by the applicant on 21 September 2020. The supporting documentation was received by the Abuja Visa Office on 12 October 2020 and is currently being processed there. 

To be fair to all applicants, visa applications are dealt with in chronological order by date of receipt within the particular category. Applications will not be normally be processed ahead of others in the queue unless there are extremely urgent reasons requiring immediate travel.

In accordance with the Immigration Service's Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification, processing of family reunification visa applications for family members of non EEA-nationals may take up to 12 months to determine from the date they are received in the relevant Visa Office. The Visa Office endeavours to have applications of this nature processed earlier than this, however, this is not always possible. Applicants are advised not to pay for airline or other travel tickets without having first been issued with a visa.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department 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 email service except in cases where the response is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.