Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2017
692. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason there are long delays in the processing of critical skills visas, in some cases increasing from a four week wait to approximately three months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5958/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra693. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of critical skills visas issued per annum by the State since this visa was introduced in September 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5959/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra694. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions her Department is taking to tackle the long delays in the processing of critical skills visas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5960/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 692 to 694, inclusive, together.
The demand for employment permits has risen by circa 300% since 2013. Over this period a number of initiatives have been introduced to address the increase in demand including conducting a business process review, the introduction of a Trusted Partner Initiative, the provision of an online Status Query facility and the launch of an online application system.
The volume of employment permit applications being received by the Employment Permits Section remains high and this demand affects the processing time for applications. Following the introduction of the Employment Permits Online System (EPOS) which enables submission of online applications, employment permit applications of all types are filtered together into two processing queues, i.e., Trusted Partner applications and Standard Employer applications and Critical Skills Employment Permits are processed through both queues. While every effort is made to process applications as quickly as possible, statutory checks are made on all types of employment permit applications in order to establish the bona fides of both the employer and the prospective employee, and therefore the process does take a certain amount of time.
Over the last number of years the Employment Permits Section has greatly improved average turnaround times but we are currently experiencing high demand. Every effort is being made to try to process this level of demand and reduce waiting times. Additional resources are being made available to this important area of activity to ensure key customer service targets are met.
The table gives figures on the number of Critical Skills Employment Permits issued since the introduction of this Permit type:
|
2014 (1st October 2014) |
272 |
|
2015 |
2,457 |
|
2016 |
3,596 |
