Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1459. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Justice the status of an application for family reunification by an Afghan refugee (details supplied); if their application for reunification with their wife and daughter will be approved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43813/22]
View answerThe person referred to by the Deputy made an application under the Afghan Admissions Programme, which was received by my Department on 11 March 2022.
My Department has received a total of 528 applications under the Programme. My officials are currently processing all applications and expect to issue decisions in the coming months.
It is important to note that all current immigration avenues remain open for new applications, including visa and family reunification applications. The Afghan Admission Programme is additional to the current suite of immigration schemes and should not be viewed in isolation. Many people are already availing of these other avenues, and will continue to do so. Further details in relation to the other avenues available and how to apply can be found on the Irish immigration website (www.irishimmigration.ie ).
Since the beginning of August 2021 to end July 2022, a total of 135 join family visas have been approved for Afghan nationals and 77 family reunification applications have been approved.
A significant number of Afghan people have also been allocated places under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP), which is under the remit of the Department of Children, Equality. Disability, Integration and Youth. The Department provides the visas to facilitate their travel to Ireland and almost 600 visa waiver letters have been issued to date.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility (inisoireachtasmail@justice.ie), which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited
