Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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344. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he is aware that, in relation to visa decisions, wait times for the spouse of an Irish citizen has grown from less than one year, in 2023, to over two years now; the steps being taken to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52643/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, 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 and Trade process certain visa applications in Irish Embassies abroad under delegated sanction from my Department.

In 2024, approximately 201,000 visa applications, of all types, were received by the Visa Division of my Department. This reflects an increase of 21%, compared to 2023, with over 35,000 additional applications received. These increases have continued, in the first eight months of 2025, my Department's Visa Division received approximately 151,000 visa applications and has issued over 134,000 decisions. This reflects an increase in applications of 5% compared to the same period in 2024. My officials are working to meet the increased level of demand, and over 5,500 additional visa decisions have issued in the first eight months of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.

I understand that extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants, and I want to assure anyone who has made an application for a visa that my Department is doing everything possible to progress these applications as quickly as possible. Staffing levels are kept under ongoing review having regard to demands placed on my Department’s Immigration Service Delivery function generally. This year additional resources and staff have been assigned to my Department’s Visa Division in response to the growing demand for these services.

My Department aims to process join family visa applications for family members of Irish nationals within 12 months. While processing times can vary across the different Visa Offices I can assure the Deputy the majority of join family visas receive a first instance decision within the 12 month business target; in the first eight months of 2025 the average processing time for a join family application sponsored by an Irish national was 230 days. This figure includes join family visa applications made by spouses, children and other family members. Processing times for all applications are influenced by a number of factors and some applications may take considerably longer than average to progress to finalisation. Processing times and decisions at the Dublin Visa Office and the Overseas Visa Offices can be checked at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/visa-decisions/

At this time, the Dublin Visa Office is considering join family visa applications for family members of Category A sponsors, which includes Irish Citizens, received from 13 September 2023. I can advise the Deputy the date published on the website of the Dublin Visa Office is the oldest date of application currently being processed under a given category. However, it should be noted that the Visa team continue to process and make decisions on applications received after the published processing date. If a particular application takes longer to consider this may result in the published processing date remaining unchanged. I can assure you that this does not indicate the processing of these applications has halted overall.

I am acutely aware that join family applications are very important for the people impacted. I understand that people are eager to have their families join them in Ireland. My Department is committed to providing the best possible service to applicants. To provide greater clarity, officials in my Department are currently in the process of updating the Immigration Service website for processing times for decisions on visa applications by the Dublin Visa Office.