Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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754. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a join family non-EEA national spouse visa application by a person (details supplied) will be processed given that it has been in the system for over six months which is over the business target for dealing with this type of application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14240/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The person referred to by the Deputy created an online Join Family (Non-EEA national) (spouse) visa application on 14 July 2021. The supporting documentation and relevant fee were subsequently received on 1 September 2021 in the Ankara visa office.

The Visa Office in Turkey is experiencing an unprecedented number of applications at present. Notwithstanding this, the Visa Office continue to process Join Family applications within 6 to 12 months, in line with the Department's standard processing times.

The business target of 6 months for long term 'join family' applications was established following the publication of the Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification. This is a business target and not a legal obligation. The Visa Office endeavours to have applications of this nature processed earlier than this, however, this is not always possible. In order to be fair to all applicants, as you will appreciate, applications are processed in order by date received in the Office.

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 (inisoireachtasmail@justice.ie), 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 is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.