Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 January 2022
483. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to reports that scammers in response to the launch of the Garda National Immigration Bureau new phone number are contacting applicants who previously sought their help with fake appointments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3117/22]
View answer484. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice if her attention has been drawn to reports of difficulties contacting the new 1800 phone number of the Garda National Immigration Bureau; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3118/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 483 and 484 together.
When a non-EEA national enters the State and intends to stay for more than 90 days, they must register their immigration permission. First time registrations outside of the Dublin area are processed by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) through the Garda Station network and securing of those appointments with GNIB are a matter for An Garda Síochána.
The Registration Office of my Department registers permissions for those residing in the Dublin area.
Since the onset of the pandemic, immigration permissions have been extended nine times, which means that people who held a valid permission to be in the State in March 2020 are legally permitted to remain until 31 May 2022.
As a result of the unavoidable delays created from closures and the reduced capacity of the Registration Office during Covid-19 restrictions , a high number of customers are now coming forward to seek an appointment. When the office is open, 50% of normal capacity or 200 first time registration appointments are permitted every day. This is the maximum allowed under current public health guidelines, which are strictly adhered to for the safety of all staff and customers alike.
As part of my Department’s ongoing work to meet the current unprecedented demand for first-time registration appointments, on 10 January 2022, a Freephone service (0800 741 741) was introduced for customers. It is currently operating 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday (8am to 8pm) and 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday (9am to 5pm).
Due to significant customer demand and the initial high volume of calls, some customers have unfortunately experienced delays or difficulties in connecting to the phone service. This situation has improved on a daily basis and, by the end of last week, the average customer waiting time was 8 minutes. Currently, there are between 15 and 20 customer service representatives taking calls and making appointments.
All appointments for customers to register their immigration permission are now issued through this service, with operators offering one appointment per call, unless it is for an identifiable family group. As of today, 25 January, some 6,269 customer appointments have been allocated and registration will take place as soon as possible.
This service, which is being paid for by my Department and was initiated as a pilot, is designed to improve customers' access to the available appointments. Due to measures taken by the service since it was initiated, it is also working to minimise to the greatest extent possible the practice by some parties of block booking appointments for sale, which has caused extensive problems for both the Department's customers and for my Department itself.
My Department strongly advises against the practice of providing sensitive and personal data to unregulated and unknown third parties.
The Registration Office’s customer service team is available to support customers who may have language difficulties or may need assistance with translation. A number of multi-lingual videos describing the registration process and what to expect are available on our website www.irishimmigration.ie.
A new Immigration Service appointment and scheduling system, which will streamline and further improve the registration process, is currently being developed and is expected to be available to customers shortly.
Dublin based customers seeking to renew their permission can continue to do so online at inisonline.jahs.ie/user/login.
