Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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17. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware that a small number of students who were granted J1 visas are now not permitted to travel by the US authorities; whether his Department is engaging with the US authorities to have this restriction lifted, as has been done for Indian applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31263/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am not aware of any specific restriction on travel by US authorities imposed on Irish or Indian students who have been granted J1 visas. I am aware that the US authorities in March highlighted social media activity in regard to their processing of student visa application. Following this, they instructed their diplomatic missions to pause new appointments for interviews for certain categories visas, including student visas. This is a global development, affecting all US visa processing offices, including in Dublin. US visas and their processing is of course the sole remit of the US authorities. Nevertheless, my Department is in ongoing contact with the US Embassy in Dublin, as well as with a number of the J1 programme providers. My current understanding is that existing appointments have not been cancelled, and that new applicants can continue to submit applications. A large majority of the approximately 5,000 J1 summer applicants from Ireland for this year have already been processed through the visa interview stage.

Any members of the public with queries in relation to the visa interview pause should seek information from the relevant US authorities, and from their J1 programme providers in the first instance. My Department will continue to be in regular contact with the US Embassy in Dublin on this issue and we have raised our concerns about the impact on citizens, in particular on students planning to travel in the coming period. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely.