Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 24 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Eligibility for Morrison Visas.

Mr. Bradford

I am glad of the opportunity to raise this matter. I thank the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs for being in attendance to respond to my request. I wish to make a case on behalf of a limited number of people who were born in England of Irish parents and adopted in England by Irish parents. Because their place of birth was England they have been declared ineligible for Morrison visas. That is an unfortunate clause in the legislation governing the US Morrison visa system. As far as I am aware the regulations are based on the country of birth rather than a nationality clause. I have had a number of queries in this regard. I thought the first query was a single case. Following telephone calls to the embassy and to a number of adoption agencies I discovered there were many similar queries throughout the country. The queries were from people born in England who after two or three days were adopted by Irish parents. Their natural parents were also Irish. They live in Ireland, are Irish citizens and have Irish passports but are ineligible for a Morrison visa because their place of birth is England. The only suggestion the American authorities have to offer is that they should apply for a Morrison visa from the English allocation. They would have a million to one chance of getting one.

Will the Minister make representations to the appropriate US authorities? I am sure this was an oversight in the regulations but it disqualifies a limited number of people from applying for a Morrison visa from the Irish allocation. They are bitterly disappointed and would be grateful for any assistance he may be able to give.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I am glad to be able to respond to the anomaly raised by Deputy Bradford about the eligibility of certain Irish citizens for Morrision visas.

Morrison visas are issued by the US embassies under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, 1990. It provides for a certain number of visas — 48,000 in our case — over a three year period ending next September to 35 countries from which people traditionally emigrate to the US. Section 202 (b) of the Act states that natives of the countries concerned, that is people born in those countries, irrespective of their nationality or citizenship are charged to that country's visa application. People of Irish parentage born in Britain are therefore chargeable against the British allocation. The only exceptions to that rule are children born of people temporarily resident in a country other than their own such as diplomats, missionaries, or employees of international companies.

As the Deputy said, my Department is aware that a number of Irish citizens born in Britain and adopted here are not regarded as eligible for Ireland's allocation. I understand one is a baby whose parents already have Morrison visas. Part of the difficulty in seeking to address this problem is that the deadline for applications under the last round of the Morrison programme was 31 March 1993. As Deputies are aware, the programme ends in September. Given that the deadline for applications has passed it has become more complicated to address problems arising at this stage. Notwithstanding that we raised these problems with the US authorities who promised to review the applications carefully in consultation with Washington. My Department has also had discussion with the US embassy in the matter.

In our recent dealings with the US authorities we have found the US embassy to be very constructive in dealing with consular problems which we have brought to their attention. Every effort is being made to resolve these difficulties. We are in close contact with the embassy and I hope for a positive outcome.