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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Apr 2002

Vol. 552 No. 1

Written Answers. - Work Permits.

Liam Aylward

Ceist:

71 Mr. Aylward asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 40 of 28 March 2002, the precise status of the application referred to. [11405/02]

Valid applications for work permits in respect of the persons concerned were received and entered on computer in the work permits section of my Depart ment on 5 March 2002. I am informed that these applications had been received at an earlier date but were rejected following a pre-check. Applications which are incorrectly completed or which do not have the necessary documentation from FÁS, as well as appropriate fees, photographs etc. are not regarded as valid applications and are returned to the employer for completion. It is the policy of the Department to process all valid applications for work permits strictly in the order in which they are received. Applications received on the date in question are been processed within six weeks of receipt.

The processing time for work permits is directly related to the number of work permit applications received and has recently been reduced from a high of ten weeks recently. In addition, the backlog of almost 7,000 work permit applications on hand and awaiting decision at the end of December 2001 have now been reduced to under 2,000 applications. To date, some 11,000 work permits have issued this year.

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