Madam, – Gerry Mullins referred to the archaic Irish visa system (February 26th). His concern was with the exclusion of visiting tourists, but my concern would be the detrimental impact that this same system has on foreign stakeholders interacting with Irish businesses which invest in emerging markets.
In a previous role I was in charge of Tullow Oil’s international business in West Africa and South Asia from 2002 to 2005. We frequently had instances of meetings cancelled because our counterparties, often civil servants from government departments or national oil companies, were refused visas to visit Dublin, or worse, refused entry at Dublin Airport even when in possession of a valid visa. The criteria for such refusals often seemed to be based on crude racial stereotyping, with no recognition that these people were visiting Ireland to assist the growth of Irish international business.
Today the company I work for is the largest Irish investor in Algeria. For an Algerian representative of our partner, the national oil company Sonatrach, the procedure to get a visa to visit Dublin is incredibly tortuous, involving at lease two personal trips from Algeria to Tunisia to lodge and collect passports, and locking up (thus preventing travel anywhere else) the applicant’s passport for a period of three to four weeks.
There is no recognition of the fact that most of these applicants hold Schengen zone visas, and thus can travel freely to France, Germany and the rest of Europe, but not to Ireland. The excuse given for our tight visa policy is usually the avoidance of economic migration.
The idea that government employees of Algeria, or any other emerging market country, who already hold Schengen zone visas and can travel freely throughout Europe would intend to migrate to Ireland is as laughable as it is nonsensical. We often end up scheduling meetings in Paris, to avoid the embarrassment of our government counterparty being refused an Irish visa after an impractical one month delay.
I know from conversations with friends in academic institutions that these same visa restrictions are a major issue for visiting academics from emerging markets wishing to attend conferences in Ireland, or even visit universities to discuss research topics of mutual interest.
It is time for the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs to launch a major overhaul of our archaic visa system, and open Ireland to bone fide tourists and economic counterparts, and to work with Irish businesses to help us grow abroad and export, rather than hindering our overseas expansion with short-sighted and narrow-minded “little Ireland” policies.
Now, more than ever before, the role of Government policy should be to help Irish businesses grow in new markets, not hinder them. – Yours, etc,