Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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527.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of spousal visa applications made from Abu Dhabi; and the number that were rejected over the past five years. [24757/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that there are currently seven overseas Visa Offices in addition to the Visa Office in Dublin. They are located in Abuja, Beijing, London, Moscow, Ankara, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi. In addition, the Department of Foreign Affairs process certain visa applications in Irish Embassies abroad under delegated sanction from my Department.

As with all visa services worldwide, the central concern in deciding on visa applications is to strike an appropriate balance between protecting the country's vital national interests by maintaining an effective immigration regime while at the same time not placing unnecessary or unreasonable obstacles in the way of intending visitors.

The table below details all applications and selected decisions for long stay join family type applications received by the Abu Dhabi Visa Office (ADVO) from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2024.

* Where the number is low (less than 5), a breakdown is not provided. This is for reasons of confidentiality.

**Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing. It should be noted that a decision made in a particular year may relate to an application received in a previous year.

I can advise the Deputy that applications based on De Facto partnerships and Family Reunification under the International Protection 2015, are sent to the Dublin Visa Office for processing. Information regarding these types of application is not detailed in the table above.