Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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579. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of an Afghan admission programme application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal. [27560/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The person referred to by the Deputy made an application to the Afghan Admission Programme, which was received by my Department on 25 February 2022. My Department has received 528 applications to the Programme in total, and my officials are currently processing all applications with decisions due to issue in the coming months.

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

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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580. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the indicative decision timeline for the Afghan Admission Programme; when she expects all applicants to have received a decision in respect of their application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27564/22]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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581. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to extend the Afghan Admission Programme beyond the original 500, to meet the number of eligible applications received; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27565/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 580 and 581 together.

In response to the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, I opened the special Afghan Admission Programme for applications on 16 December 2021. The Programme closed on 11 March 2022 and my Department is currently processing the 528 applications received.

The Programme enables current or former Afghan nationals living legally in Ireland to apply to have certain close family members come to live with them in Ireland. As you will appreciate, no immigration programme can be unlimited in scope. In line with policy considerations, certain conditions apply. The Programme has been developed to allow as many families as possible the opportunity to have some family members join them here in Ireland.

The eligibility criteria requires that the proposer must be able to maintain their nominated family members, including providing them with accommodation. They would also be responsible for covering all travel costs to Ireland, if approved.

Officials in my Department are currently processing all of the applications received and expect to issue decisions in the coming months.