Peadar Tóibín
Question:224. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of visas which have been issued in each of the past ten years, by categories. [10614/26]
View answerWednesday, 11 February 2026
Questions (224)
Written answers
I can advise the Deputy that my Department currently operates seven overseas Visa Offices in addition to the Visa Office in Dublin. These are located in Abuja, Beijing, London, Moscow, Ankara, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi. In addition, staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade process certain visa applications in Irish Embassies abroad under delegated authority from my Department.
Visa and preclearance applications provide legal avenues for people moving to Ireland for employment, study and family reasons and also to facilitate visitors who wish to travel for business and/or tourism. It is important to recall these applications are screening processes, designed to establish that the person has a legitimate reason to come to Ireland prior to travel. Verifying an application is an important part of our immigration system.
Any visa required national who wishes to enter the State and remain for up to 90 days must have a Type C short-stay visa, wile those intending to reside for longer than 90 days must have a Type D long-stay visa.
In 2025, approximately 206,000 visa applications, of all types, were received by the Visa Division of my Department. This reflects an increase of 2% compared to 2024, with over 3,900 additional applications received. This follows a 21% increase in applications in 2024 compared to 2023. My officials are working to meet the increased level of demand, and over 8,700 additional visa decisions have issued in 2025, compared to 2024.
The table below details the breakdown of first instance approved visa applications by year from 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2025.