ISHANI DUTTAGUPTA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2005 01:19:28 AM Sign into earnIndiatimes points About a year after the Embbutty of Ireland introduced the outsourcing of visa operations in India to VFS on a pilot basis, the service has been formally launched by the Irish minister for trade, Mr Michael Ahern, who visited New Delhi recently.
"The conclusion of this agreement with VFS means that visa applications can be handled more quickly and thoroughly and applicants can expect a higher quality of service," Ahern said.
went up to 8000 in India, making the India mission the second busiest in the world after China.
"The agreement with VFS India, which is the first of its kind for the Ireland government in the world, helps us to eliminate the long queues in front of the embbutty and also puts less pressure on our staff who have to process the papers. The VFS offices in Delhi, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin check the documents and advise applicants. This helps us to issue visas much faster," feels Pat Bourne, deputy head of mission, Embbutty of Ireland, Delhi.
Applicants from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa continue to make their applications to the Irish Consulates in Bangalore and Mumbai.
"Our seven offices for Ireland, along with the 14 that we have for UK visas, have enabled us to offer a dual visa service for people travelling to both UK and Ireland, which is very common. This makes us a very convenient one-stop shop and enables the visa applicants to benefit from the economies of scale," a senior VFS official told ET.
The big rise in numbers for visa applicants to Ireland in different categories like students, business, work permits, dependants and tourists has been to a great extent due to the economic boom in both the countries.
"The pull factor from Ireland is very strong with a big skills shortage in the IT and healthcare sectors. Universities in Ireland have always been very well recognised and are now pitching strongly to attract students from India and we have at least 500-600 students going to study in Ireland every year. The insbreastutions have increased the numbers of seats for foreign students and are holding education fairs in India to market their courses," Bourne said.
While fees for single entry visas for Ireland are Rs 4,000, multiple entry visas, which are usually not given to first time travellers, come at Rs 6,400. Working visas also come for Rs 6400.
While many applications are decided within two working days (for example those of government officials, well-travelled business people and people with residence rights in Ireland or Europe or with valid visas for EU or Schengen member states) others, such as those from people intending to work, study or visit Ireland as a tourist, may have to be referred for decision to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in Dublin.
For these applications, processing time can take 6 weeks. In all cases, therefore, applicants should apply at least six weeks in advance of the intended date of departure for Ireland.
People seeking change in status have to usually leave Ireland till the new visas are granted.
Those granted visas for particular purposes (e.g. visit; study; accompanying spouse; examination) are not permitted under Irish law to involve themselves in any other activity or to remain in the country for any purpose other than that for which his-her visa was specifically granted.
A person wishing to undertake any activity in Ireland other than that for which his-her visa was granted (including re-sitting an examination) must leave and then apply for a new visa.
The applicant may not return to Ireland while awaiting a decision on his-her new application. However, in this context, the government of Ireland is reviewing the stricture for students who study in Ireland and then get a job.
They may soon be allowed to apply for a work permit without leaving the country. Other changes would be photo visas from next year and adding biometric identifiers in the visas in the next couple of years.
"We are looking at bigger numbers of Indian students availing themselves of the excellent educational insbreastutions in Ireland. Some of the popular international courses are in management, English language specialisations and medicine. We are looking into the issue of work permits being given to the students who get a job while they are in Ireland and a decision could be arrived at within six months," Ahern said.
"While there are already a large number of Indian doctors, nurses, other health workers and IT professionals from India in Ireland, Enterprise Ireland is also looking at Indian entrepreneurs setting up shop in our country," he added.
Interestingly, because of the large number of applicants from the IT and healthcare sectors seeking Ireland visas, there are more applications from the southern states than North India.
"We have a large number of IT professionals from the south and nurses from Kerala applying for Irish visas," the VFS official said.
Under Ireland's working visa and work authorisation scheme which facilitates the recruitment of suitably qualified people from non-EEA countries for designated sectors of the employment market where skill shortages are particularly acute, prospective employees with job offers from employers in Ireland can obtain immigration and employment clearance in advance from Irish Embbutties and Consulates.
Special arrangements are also in place to facilitate medical pracbreastioners who are applicants for temporary registration with the medical council, medical, health and social care professionals who obtain full registration-validation while in Ireland or who possess the relevant registration-validation and are already in legal employment on a valid work permit.
At present the designated categories for skills shortages include: á Information and computing technologies professionals á Information and computing technologies technicians á Architects, including architectural technicians-technologists á Construction engineers, including engineering technicians á Quanbreasty surveyors and building surveyors á Town planners; á Medical pracbreastioners á Registered nurses á Dentists, and
The following specified professionals in the public health and social care sectors, including voluntary bodies:
á Diagnostic or therapeutic á Radiographer á Audiologist á Dietician - social worker
