Godfrey Timmins
Question:27 Mr. Timmins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs when the United States visa waiver programme for Ireland will come into operation. [6765/95]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - US Visa Waiver Programme.
Following extensive efforts by the Government, our Embassy in Washington and our friends in Congress, Ireland was admitted on a probationary basis to the US visa waiver programme as of 1 April 1995. In practice, this means that over 90 per cent of Irish citizens travelling to the US are no longer required to have visas. The Government is extremely pleased to have secured admission to this programme which will benefit over 60,000 Irish people who travel on holidays or business to the United States each year.
What was the figure prior to 1 April? Has there been a considerable increase?
A considerable increase in what?
Has there been a considerable increase on the previous figure? The Tánaiste said 90 per cent of applicants would not have to have a visa.
The Deputy is aware of the new situation, namely, that 90 per cent of Irish citizens travelling to the US will be no longer required to have visas. There were quite a number of refusals in the past, not a very high proportion, although we are all familiar with individual cases. I do not have a figure on that. It was quite close to the actual figures which kept us outside the visa waiver programme for many years.
I wanted that figure in order to make a comparison because we have all had complaints from constituents who were refused visas. I want to know if the position has materially changed for the better or will we continue to have to beg the officials in the United States Embassy to grant visas to people who are prefectly entitled to them by our standards.
It might be helpful to outline the procedures to the Deputy. As of now, people travelling to the US from Ireland without visas will be asked to complete a visa waiver application form to present to immigration officials at Dublin or Shannon Airports. These forms will be available at airports and successful applicants will have an appropriate stamp placed on their passports and a portion of the application form stapled into them for inspection by officials in the US. People whose visa applications have been refused will have to resolve their application difficulties with the Embassy before making travel plans. They will not be admitted to the United States by immigration officials until they have done so.
What happens if a young person, intending to travel to the United States, completes the visa waiver form at the airport but is turned down? Every Deputy has come across cases of sons travelling on holidays with mothers or fathers or brothers going to visit sisters who have lived in the United States for many years who have been turned down. At least if people are turned down at home, they have some chance of appeal. What happens if people arrive at the airport, complete the visa waiver form but are turned down when all hell breaks loose?
There are two aspects to that. From my experience, as a Deputy, in recent years the problem has been far less difficult than it was five or six years ago.
They have been very co-operative.
Yes, and I have said many times that we are grateful to the Ambassador and her staff for their approach to this matter. Of course, that does not exclude difficulties that arise from time to time, of which we have all had experience. There is no guarantee, under the new scheme, that every applicant for a visa will be granted entry to the US. Immigration officials at Dublin, Shannon, Kerry International Airport or any airport from which people are departing have the power to refuse entry to the US if they are not satisfied about a person's bona fides. In that respect, it probably would be better if they exercised that power rather than it being exercised at Kennedy Airport on the other side of the Atlantic. That is a matter for the judgement of the US officials but I hope, in the spirit of the new programme, we will have few, if any, problems with it.
The Tánaiste stated that 90 per cent of people will no longer require visas but that means that 10 per cent will be refused. The average jumbo jet carries 350 people, therefore 35 of them will be left standing at the visa check-in area. In view of the possibility of a refusal, is the Tánaiste recommending that people continue to apply for US visas prior to their departure in order to have peace of mind or is he recommending that they use the new waiver programme, which I very much welcome? It is a very good scheme but I believe difficulties will arise with it in future and it is as well to be aware of them at this stage.
As I understand it, with the visa waiver programme there will not be a need for applications for visas. It is a simple procedure and I hope that most applicants who want to travel to the US, in the spirit of the procedures of the last number of years, will be successful and that Deputies will not have to deal with the problems that arose about five or six years ago.