Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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302. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a decision will be made in relation to an application for a join family visa lodged by a person (details supplied); the reason for the delay in considering an application by a person (details supplied) which has been lodged for over 12 months; if his attention has been drawn to the urgent need for a decision on the application given that it is having a profound negative impact on their family; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52611/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The visa application referred to by the Deputy was refused by the Visa Office in Abuja on 25 May 2022. The reasons for this decision were set out in the refusal letter sent to the applicant at that time. An appeal of this decision was launched on 22 June 2022.

Appeals for applications of this type are processed in the order in which they are received, in order to be fair to all applicants. While every effort is made to process these applications as soon as possible, processing times will vary having regard to the volume of appeals received, their complexity, the possible need for the visa office to seek further information in relation to certain appeals and the resources available to process them.

All visa applicants are advised that the onus is on them to provide as much information in support of their application as they feel is necessary. Guidelines in this regard are posted on the Immigration Service website. When making an appeal, the applicant should take into account the reasons for refusal listed in the refusal letter. The appeal should include any further information or additional documentation they wish to have considered, and should be sent for the attention of the Visa Appeals Officer, in the relevant Visa Office, where the matter will be considered afresh.

Full consideration will be given to the appeal however the onus is on applicants to satisfy the Visa Appeals Officer that a visa should be granted. Processing times and decisions at the Overseas Visa Offices can be checked at the webpage for the relevant 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.