THE DEPARTMENT of Justice has said the immediate crisis at the visa office at the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in Dublin is over and there is no need for people to queue overnight.
The statement follows weeks of frustrating delays for thousands of migrant workers, who have been forced to queue for hours to try and get multiple re-entry visas to enable them to leave the country.
In scenes reminiscent of the fiasco at the Dublin passport office in March, hundreds of immigrants seeking the visas were turned away after queuing overnight due to a huge backlog in applications.
In a statement yesterday, the Department of Justice said: “On Wednesday for the first time in a number of weeks, the office had dealt with everyone who turned at the public office to make an application. With the co-operation of those seeking re-entry visas we should be in a position to deal daily with those that turn at the public office.” The department said there was still a backlog for postal re-entry visa applications but these should be dealt with in due course.
He said anyone who was not due to travel for three or four weeks should make applications by post as there was no need to turn up at the office in Dublin in person.
The huge delays at the Dublin office, which is the only office that can issue re-entry visas in the country, was prompted by a surge in demand for visas and an industrial dispute by members of the Civil Public and Services Union.
Union members at the office did not comply with management requests to redeploy them to the visa department to deal with the upsurge in demand because of their initial opposition to the Croke Park agreement. However, the union has now withdrawn its “work to rule” following a decision last week to re-ballot its members on the Croke Park agreement, which has facilitated extra staff to work on the visa applications.
All this week immigrants have continued to queue at the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in Dublin to try and ensure they get their visa to allow them to travel. Many migrants spent all night queuing with their children and some travelled from as far away as Galway.
Usama Faisal, a Pakistani national who works in Limerick, queued all night on Sunday with his wife Gao and two children to ensure he could get his family multiple re-entry visas so they could return to Ireland following a family visit planned for tomorrow.
“I’d normally put an application in the post but I don’t have time now. I travelled up from Limerick and began queuing at 8.45pm tonight. I’m not happy about the fact my children are having to queue overnight. They won’t be able to sleep properly,” he said.
One Indian national, who queued for three days at the office in order to apply for a re-entry visa, told The Irish Timesthe situation in Ireland was worse than it was for foreigners living in India.
“People are queuing all night to try and get visas but when the office opens at 8am all the tickets are gone by 8.30am and you are told to go home,” said Gobi Bhaskaran, who was travelling yesterday and needed the visa.
“In India people from other countries are given special preference when applying for visas. Anybody from Ireland, Europe or the USA can go and approach staff and explain their grievance. I complained to a supervisor and she told me that arguing with her was a waste of time,” he said.
One man, who queued up on Sunday night, said he was holding the place in the queue for his sister. “She is a doctor and is treating people in hospital now so she can’t come until the morning,” she said.
“There should be a better way of issuing these visas,” said Sanjay, who is from India.