John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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478. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of a visitor's visa application (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28887/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that the visit visa application referred to was created on 21 February 2025. Supporting documentation was received in the South Africa Visa Desk on 25 February 2025 where it awaits examination and processing.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to give a definitive date as to when this application will be finalised. All applications are processed in chronological order, based on date order of receipt.

The Dublin Visa Office have established a dedicated “South Africa desk” to process applications from residents of South Africa. Target processing times and weekly decision reports, for this desk, are available at the following link:

The current target processing times for visa applications submitted to the South Africa Visa Desk are 6 to 8 weeks for applications to visit family/friend and approximately 12 weeks for tourist applications.

I can advise the Deputy that visas are being issued largely in line with the published target processing times. Applicants are advised that unforeseen delays can arise, which are outside the control of the Visa Desk. With this in mind, my officials recommend that applicants should not book flights until they have received and validated their visa.

If an application has significantly exceeded the above times, it is possible that, on initial assessment, the application has not met the criteria to be issued a visa, and further assessment/verification is required. In such instances, processing times will be longer than those stated above.

The person concerned can now directly check the status of their immigration application on the Immigration Service’s new Customer Service Portal. They can register for, or log in to their existing account, at:

As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases by e-mail, using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: IMoireachtasmail@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 Question process.