Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2022
604. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice when two persons (details supplied) who are living in Pakistan but who are Afghanistan citizens can expect a decision on their application for visas to stay with their siblings in Ireland; and the other schemes or mechanisms by which they can seek admission to the State. [24445/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra611. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice when two persons (details supplied) can expect a decision on an application for visas to come to stay with their siblings in Ireland and if there are any other scheme or mechanism which the two individuals could use to seek admission to this State. [24488/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 604 and 611 together.
The visa applications for the persons referred to by the Deputy were refused by the Visa Office in Abu Dhabi on 15 February 2020. The reasons for this decision were set out in the refusal letter sent to the applicants at that time. An appeal of this decision was made on 24 February 2022. The appeals were examined in detail and a decision was made uphold the original decision to refuse the applications. The applicants were informed of this decision by letter on 22 April 2022.
The persons concerned have also submitted applications under the Afghan Admission Programme. These applications were received by my Department on 1 March 2022. My Department has received 528 applications to the Afghan Admission Programme in total. My officials are currently processing all applications and decisions are expected to issue in the coming months.
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.
