Vol. 451 No. 5
20 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department will provide funding for the emigration advice centres to help potential applicants for the next immigrant visa lottery scheme to the United States of America (details supplied) in view of the fact that certain individuals and organisations profess to guarantee visas. [7116/95]
Since the allocation of visas under the current US immigrant visa programme is decided by lottery, there is no question of any individual or organisation being in a position to guarantee visas. All details about the operation of the programme are published by the US authorities and are available from US Embassies and Consulates. These official US sources provide the most authoritative information about the programme and potential visa applicants are advised to contact them directly.
My Department provides funds of £150,000 a year to support the valuable work of immigrant advice centres in the United States. However, since these centres are dealing with people already in the US, their involvement with potential visa applicants is limited. Funding of emigrant advice centres in Ireland would not be a matter for the Foreign Affairs Vote. In any event, those interested in the visa lottery scheme are best advised to contact official US sources for full details of all aspects of the scheme.
The only funding for emigrant advice centres is provided through the Department of Education and distributed mainly through the vocational education committees. Given that some US organisations charge $50 for help with filling in application forms and £2,000 if one is successful, does the Minister not agree that it is time to allocate funding to advice centres which employ two or three people and provide advice and information free of charge?
As I see it, the system is clear. The US Embassy advertises the immigrant visa lottery schemes and, to the best of my knowledge, Irish people have been very successful in obtaining visas in recent years. If anything, the US Embassy is extremely helpful and information is readily made available. I suspect that, like many other Deputies, Deputy Kitt has helped with filling in application forms and processing material. There is no need for intermediaries or for would-be visa applicants to incur any expense when filling in their application forms.
Does the Minister agree that his Department or the American Embassy should issue a statement about misleading advertisements in the newspapers in advance of the announcement of the next immigrant visa lottery scheme? Some people have paid between $50-$2,000 on the basis that they would be guaranteed a visa.
Misleading advertisements in the Irish media are dealt with by the Advertising Standards Authority. I am prepared to bring any misleading advertisements to the attention of the authority and I encourage Deputy Kitt and other Deputies to do likewise. The Deputy provided me with a copy of an advertisement from a newspaper which on the face of it, does not appear to be misleading as all it offers is information about the visa lottery scheme. However, if one were to follow that up one might be surprised where it leads and the next communication may require a fee of some sort. I will ask the press section of my Department to ensure that information is made available to the public.
The Minister put his finger on the problem, that people are drawn into the net of paying money when they reply to the first advertisement. The American Embassy is annoyed about these advertisments and I ask the Minister to make a statement about misleading advertisements in advance of the next scheme.
Given the Deputy's genuine concern about this matter, I will have discussions with the American Embassy on how the Department and it can best handle this matter to ensure that people are not drawn into the net referred to by him.
