Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 February 2026
236. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 861 to 864, inclusive, of 10 February 2026, to confirm that all relevant staff involved in this process are appropriately trained and fully informed regarding the requirements and criteria for short-term study visas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13405/26]
View answer237. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 861 to 864, inclusive, of 10 February 2026, the number of received, approved and refused application rates for the months of October, November, December 2025, January 2026, and to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13406/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 237 together.
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.
I can confirm to the Deputy that all Visa Officers are appropriately trained and fully informed regarding the requirements and criteria of the various visa categories. The Visa Office in Dublin is the main processing centre for Irish visas and is the training centre for all Visa Officers before they are posted to one of the seven overseas Visa Offices. It is also the location of pre posting visa training for colleagues from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before they go overseas.
Table 1 below provides details of Type C Short Stay Visa applications received from Russian nationals together with the number of applications granted and refused at first instance.
Table 1. Type C Short Stay Study Visa Applications – Russian nationals
|
Year |
Russian Federation Received |
Russian Federation Approved |
Russian Federation Refused |
|
Oct-25 |
10 |
7 |
< 5 |
|
Nov-25 |
8 |
< 5 |
< 5 |
|
Dec-25 |
< 5 |
< 5 |
11 |
|
Jan-26 |
40 |
< 5 |
< 5 |
|
Feb-26 (13/02/26) |
98 |
< 5 |
< 5 |
* Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing.
* A decision made in a particular month may relate to an application received in a previous month.
* In some instances an applicant may apply for and be issued with a visit tourist visa when they were coming for short stay study. These figures cannot be extracted from the overall visit visas and are not included in the above table.
* Please also note that it is the policy of my Department not to release numbers where there are less than 5 in respect of any nationality, as there is a possibility that a person may be identifiable by releasing such information.
