Vol. 541 No. 5
186 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of applications for work permits refused by her Department in each of the past 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23482/01]
The number of work permit applications refused for each of the 12 months to 30 September 2001 is as follows:
|
Oct, 2000 |
38 |
|
Nov, 2000 |
41 |
|
Dec, 2000 |
20 |
|
Jan, 2001 |
41 |
|
Feb, 2001 |
39 |
|
Mar, 2001 |
84 |
|
Apr, 2001 |
104 |
|
May, 2001 |
68 |
|
Jun, 2001 |
30 |
|
Jul, 2001 |
52 |
|
Aug, 2001 |
84 |
|
Sept, 2001 |
106 |
|
Total |
707 |
187 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of applications for work visas received in her Department in each of the past 12 months; the average length of time taken to process each application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23483/01]
Since the inception of the working visa/work authorisation scheme in June 2000, a total of 3,870 permits were issued for high skilled workers in the IT, construction and nursing professions up to the end of July 2001, which is the latest date for which my Department has statistics. Under the scheme prospective employees obtain immigration and employment clearance from Irish Embassies and Consulates abroad. Provided that everything is in order, the processing time for dealing with the applications averages six working days. A month by month breakdown of the figure of 3,870 is set out below:
|
Work authorisationsissued, June-Dec. 2000 |
Work visas issuedJune-Dec. 2000 |
||
|
June |
31 |
June |
142 |
|
July |
34 |
July |
101 |
|
August |
37 |
August |
133 |
|
September |
35 |
September |
75 |
|
October |
80 |
October |
157 |
|
November |
93 |
November |
125 |
|
December |
82 |
December |
255 |
