Visa Data

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Questions (270)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

270. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of EU treaty rights visa applications received, granted and refused, respectively, by country in each of the past five years in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37084/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the following tables set out the position in relation to the ten highest number of applications received by nationality and a combined figure for all other nationalities for each of the years requested.

As the Deputy may be aware, there was an exponential increase from the second quarter of 2015 in the number of such applications. That gave rise to a caseload of around 10,500 applications which had to be assessed very carefully to ensure that any fraudulent applications or potential abuses of the Directive are detected and dealt with appropriately. The majority of these have now been processed, and explains the high figures of applications and refusals for certain countries in those years.

Most of the sponsors in these particular cases were United Kingdom nationals who came here claiming to be exercising EU Treaty Rights. INIS had serious concerns about many of these cases, particularly as they appeared to be using the Common Travel Area to circumvent national UK immigration rules for family reunification. However, under the Directive genuine movement must be taking place by the EU national, such as taking up employment, etc. A series of measures were taken by INIS including defending cases in the Courts, working with the Garda National Immigration Bureau to address abuses, and working in close cooperation with UK counterparts who subsequently made changes to their laws.

Since these measures were taken, the numbers of such new applicants dropped off dramatically in 2017 and this year to date. Approximately 97% of those 10,500 applications have now been decided, and over 95% refused/withdrawn with a significant number processed this year and thus not reflected in the processing figures in the following tables.

Legal proceedings in relation to a number of such applications have been before the courts, and a referral was made by the Court of the Appeal to the European Court of Justice.

More generally, the central concern, as with all visa services worldwide, in deciding on visa applications is to strike an appropriate balance between protecting the country's vital national interests by maintaining an effective immigration regime while at the same time facilitating travel for those who meet the criteria. Each visa application is therefore decided on its own merits taking all factors into account.

EU Treaty Rights visa applications received 2013 to 2017

Nationality	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	Total
Afghanistan	16	228	3420	790	44	4498
Bangladesh	15	45	247	236	47	590
India	41	98	270	266	200	875
Iraq	6	51	1239	373	23	1692
Nigeria	30	113	229	305	314	991
Pakistan	95	369	2735	3561	524	7284
People's Republic of China	26	55	122	103	134	440
Philippines	42	68	134	109	114	467
Russian Federation	53	77	165	154	190	639
Ukraine	29	49	104	100	105	387
Rest of World	313	610	1300	1130	1109	4462
Total	666	1763	9965	7127	2804	22325

EU Treaty Rights visa applications decided in 2013

Nationality	Granted	Refused	Total
India	41	6	47
Moldova	28	0	28
Morocco	19	0	19
Nigeria	28	12	40
Pakistan	88	9	97
People’s Republic of China	17	4	21
Philippines	35	2	37
Russian Federation	51	0	51
Tunisia	17	1	18
Ukraine	29	2	31
Rest of World	232	19	251
Total	585	55	640

EU Treaty Rights visa applications decided in 2014

Nationality	Granted	Refused	Total
Afghanistan	143	10	153
Egypt	37	1	38
India	74	6	80
Nigeria	82	27	109
Pakistan	254	12	266
People's Republic of China	46	7	53
Philippines	56	3	59
Russian Federation	75	0	75
Tunisia	77	2	79
Ukraine	43	3	46
Rest of World	492	38	530
Total	1379	109	1488

EU Treaty Rights visa applications decided in 2015

Nationality	Granted	Refused	Total
Afghanistan	901	33	934
Bangladesh	41	41	82
India	157	37	194
Iraq	151	36	187
Nigeria	137	72	209
Pakistan	560	125	685
People's Republic of China	97	13	110
Philippines	94	16	110
Russian Federation	162	1	163
Ukraine	81	13	94
Rest of World	885	101	986
Total	3266	488	3754

EU Treaty Rights visa applications decided in 2016

Nationality	Granted	Refused	Total
Ghana	32	31	63
India	101	33	134
Moldova	67	0	67
Nigeria	176	107	283
Pakistan	77	135	212
People's Republic of China	99	6	105
Philippines	82	9	91
Russian Federation	142	2	144
Turkey	53	4	57
Ukraine	95	8	103
Rest of World	623	63	686
Total	1547	398	1945

EU Treaty Rights visa applications decided in 2017

Nationality	Granted	Refused	Total
Afghanistan	4	449	453
India	113	17	130
Iraq	7	202	209
Moldova	115	1	116
Nigeria	176	92	268
Pakistan	118	1300	1418
People's Republic of China	124	4	128
Philippines	79	24	103
Russian Federation	187	4	191
Ukraine	90	11	101
Rest of World	718	203	921
Total	1731	2307	4038