Vol. 396 No. 9
14 Mr. Byrne asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has received any representations from members of the public or from public representatives, regarding the attitude of personnel in the United States Embassy in Dublin dealing with inquiries concerning visa applications; if he intends to make any representations to the embassy regarding the need for a more helpful approach; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I have received some representations from members of the public and from public representatives concerning the attitude of personnel in the US Embassy in Dublin dealing with visa inquiries. The embassy have informed my Department that if individuals have such complaints, the embassy will be pleased to deal directly with the complainant and have the matter fully investigated. The Deputy will appreciate, however, that this is a matter for the embassy and that the embassy must deal with visa applications on the basis of US immigration law.
Is the Minister aware that there is widespread dissatisfaction on the part of both members of the public and public representatives at their inability to find anybody in the visa office willing to co-operate with inquiries as to progress on passports or visas being processed? Our senior civil servants seem to feel, to put it mildly, that co-operation is not as would be expected particularly from a so-called friendly country. Will the Minister make representations to the American Embassy to nominate a senior official of whom civil inquiries could be made on behalf of members of the public?
I stress again that it is a matter for the US Embassy to decide how they wish to handle representations. I understand, however, that all written complaints about visas are normally referred to the US Consul for his personal attention. With regard to the suggestion in the second part of the supplementary question as to whether it is true that officials — senior civil servants from my Department, I presume — sometimes have difficulty with the attitude of the embassy officials, I must reject that allegation. Officials of my Department are in frequent contact with the embassy and have found the embassy helpful in giving reasons based on US immigration law for particular decisions on visa applications. I am sure the Deputy will share with me the realisation that US consular officials have relatively little discretion under US immigration law and must have a legal basis for all decisions.
Will the Minister agree that many visa applicants would be reluctant to complain about what they would regard as insensitive treatment of their inquiries because they feel it may rebound on their applications? Can he assure the House that that would not be the case and that complaints can be made freely? Has he made any representations to the US Government with regard to the interpretation of US law on visas? I have received quite a number of representations, and I know others have too, about how strictly this obligation of having a base to return to in Ireland is applied. I am speaking specifically about holiday visas.
Again it is a matter for the US Embassy officials to decide how they wish to handle representations. All written complaints are brought to the Consul's personal attention and examined by him. If the Deputy has any case in mind I suggest he bring it to the attention of the embassy. In fairness to them I should say that their job is to administer US domestic legislation in relation to visas and they are under no legal obligation to respond to representations from public representatives of another jurisdiction.
Will the Minister not agree that the case being made here by Deputy De Rossa and Deputy Byrne is totally exaggerated because when you are dealing with perhaps 70,000 to 100,000 visa applications there are bound to be some people who feel they are badly done by? It is not as if you were dealing with visas to go to some South American country. This is the country to which most Irish people go where it is necessary to have a visa. It is very wrong to bring it on to the floor of this House when it is a matter of internal US management.
As I understand the background to this question from Deputy Byrne, an application was made for a B2 tourist visa less than two weeks before departure and the application was being handled through the post. This visa application would not be the centre of the issue if the person realised that what he or she was hoping to achieve in two weeks takes longer and had gone in person or applied earlier. We have to be fair. There are quite a number of applications to be processed and something might go wrong through no fault of the American Embassy staff. For instance, somebody might be disappointed at the delay — it may be a legitimate delay or a postal delay — and fail to understand that the embassy have an obligation to process applications as they arrive rather than trying to find the reason for the delay.
May I ask one further question?
A number of Deputies are offering. I want to deal with other questions also. I want to dissuade Members of the possibility of a debate on this question. I am calling Deputy Ferris and finally Deputy Byrne.
I think it is a helpful supplementary.
I will endeavour to assist the Deputy.
Would the Minister not agree that any intervention by public representatives would not be made in an effort to influence a decision about granting visas? The problem is that when some difficulty arises there is nobody we can contact. I am referring to genuine cases regarding invitations to weddings and matters of that kind. We cannot contact people to find out how to comply with the regulations. Nobody is trying to change the regulations; we are only trying to help.
I appreciate, as would any public representative, that delays can take place not only in relation to the issue of visas for the United States but in relation to other matters also. If I were accepting an invitation to a wedding in the United States I do not think I would wait until two weeks beforehand to apply for a visa. Neither would Deputy Ferris. If people recognised that there is a certain timespan required for the satisfactory processing of a visa application, a lot of the difficulties would disappear overnight. With regard to a genuine case where something goes wrong, I am quite satisfied that if any public representative or any person writes formally to the United States Embassy the matter will be brought to the attention of the Consul and dealt with by him personally. I do not think anybody believes there is any question of political influence having a bearing on any decision made by the staff of the United States Embassy in regard to visa applications.
When one considers the importance to certain individuals of fulfilling their obligations to Aer Lingus or other holiday commitments, is it not slightly bloodyminded of the officials in the American Embassy to be so bureaucratic in their structures and unco-operative with our own officials, let alone public representatives, even where a visa has been processed and stamped on the passport? There is no method by which we can intercede and get the passport from the bureaucratic tube, even though we know the visa has been stamped on the passport. There is no simple method of extricating those passports, inclusive of the visas, in emergency cases. That is why I am asking the Minister to make representations to the American Embassy to nominate a senior official to whom emergency cases can be put and from whom we can receive a civil response.
Let us have brevity. This question is taking too long to dispose of.
Does the Minister think it might be helpful if his Department, the Department of Tourism and Transport, the American Embassy or individual Deputies would contact the travel agents in their area advising them to inform people booking passage to America that it takes three weeks to get a visa and that they should apply in time?
I recognise the concern of Deputy Byrne. The embassy, having been contacted by the Consular section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said that all postal applications received on that day had been processed and sent for dispatch by post. That is as far as they could go. One has to recognise that this was the end of their obligation. It was in the postal system. It is a bit unreal to expect officials in the US Embassy to start chasing through the postal system.
I must protest that that is not a fact.
