Written Answers. - Immigration Registration Office.
Brendan Howlin
Question:
371
Mr. Howlin
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
if his attention has been drawn to the serious inconvenience caused for people from Japan and Korea who do not require a visa, but who must have a permission to stay stamp, and are being forced to queue at great length at the immigration office; his plans to reduce the delays; and his views on the lengthy queuing
[6834/02]
Under the Aliens Order, 1946, subject to certain limited exceptions, all non-EEA nationals, including Japanese and Korean nationals, are required to register with their local Garda registration office if they wish to reside in the State for longer than 90 days. The process of registration is combined with that of obtaining permission to remain in the State and persons may subsequently seek extensions of that permission to remain, again by presentation at a Garda registration office.
In the Dublin area, registration takes place at the immigration registration office, Harcourt Square. For persons residing outside the Dublin area, registration takes place at the Garda superintendent's office for the area in which they reside.
It is undoubtedly the case that the immigration registration office, Harcourt Square, has experienced unprecedented growth in demand for its services in recent years and that this in turn has led to delays for persons seeking to register or renew their permission to remain in the Dublin area. The number of persons registered at the immigration registration office in Dublin has grown from 17,064 in 1999 to 26,641 in 2000 and 56,610 in 2001. This increase in activity reflects the growth in the level of legal migration to the State.
Initiatives already undertaken to respond to this dramatic increase in demand and to reduce queuing time include very significant additional resources, longer opening hours, computerisation of the registration process and streamlining of operating procedures. In so far as opening hours are concerned, the position is that the office is now open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. – Monday to Thursday, inclusive – and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Furthermore, I understand from the Garda authorities that in practice the office regularly stays open until 9.30 p.m. or later in order to process applications for persons who have attended the office on that day. It is not the case that persons are required to queue overnight and the detective chief superintendent of the Garda National Immigration Bureau is on record as having stated that persons who are present when the office is opened in the morning will be facilitated on the day in question. Occasionally, if a person cannot be dealt with on the day of his or her attendance he or she will be given an appointment to call to the office on a subsequent Saturday or Sunday. It should be borne in mind however that a non-EEA national does not enjoy an automatic entitlement to reside in the State simply by virtue of the fact that he or she is a national of a non-visa required country. Different considerations may apply, for example, where such a non-EEA national entered Ireland illegally, overstayed his or her original permission to enter the State or has been involved in criminal activity.
Further additional resources are currently being deployed to the immigration registration office in Harcourt Square and negotiations are taking place with the relevant trade union representatives with a view to introducing a shift system for civilian staff. This will facilitate a further extension of opening hours and will eliminate the need for queuing at the immigration registration office.
It should also be borne in mind that, as a result of the introduction of computerisation, customers attending the immigration registration office get a better quality service at the counter. Under the old system, the manually prepared Garda registration certificate was posted out to the person in question several weeks after his or her visit to the Harcourt Square office. The position now is that the new computer generated certificate is handed to the customer on the date of his or her visit.
Work is already under way in relation to further initiatives. The Office of Public Works has purchased new and far larger accommodation for the registration office, which will be ready for occupation later this year. The intention is that the new accommodation will provide a "one stop shop" for legally resident non-nationals in the Dublin area as it will also accommodate the immigration and citizenship division of my Department together with the visa office in the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is intended that this initiative will further facilitate the streamlining of operating procedures.
