Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2026
613. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the list of wait times for visa renewals, critical skills employment permits and general employment permits, in tabular form. [28877/26]
View answer614. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the reason persons who have been living and working in Ireland for many years are now being placed in precarious situations due to delays in renewing their working visas. [28876/26]
View answer615. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will review matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); if he will address the concerns raised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28864/26]
View answer631. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average wait times for IRP card renewals; the longest wait time currently in the system; and if he has assessed the merits of extending a temporary arrangement for expiring Irish residence cards where nonrenewal arises from system delays not on the part of the applicant. [28476/26]
View answer643. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the actions in place to manage the significant Irish Residence Permit card renewal delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28720/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 613, 614, 615, 631 and 643 together.
The Registration Office of my Department is currently experiencing an exceptionally high demand for immigration permission renewal applications.
I understand that the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and I can assure the Deputy that my Department is exploring every avenue available to facilitate as many customers as possible and to increase processing capacity.
The Registration Office is already open seven days a week to facilitate customers, with further measures to reduce processing times currently being implemented. Additional staff have been assigned to this work and further assignments are being examined. I expect that this will begin to address the delays currently being experienced.
The Registration Office provide a live application processing date broken down by stamp category, which is updated every Monday, and is available at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/how-to-renew-your-current-permission/.
Customers may submit their renewal applications up to 12 weeks prior to expiry of permission, to allow sufficient time for an application to be reached and processed prior to a current permission expiring.
The Registration Office has also issued a notice to employers regarding the legality of employing someone awaiting renewal. This notice can be found here: www.irishimmigration.ie/notice-to-employers-regarding-employees-awaiting-renewal-of-their-irp-card/.
As the Deputy may be aware, previous arrangements made for people awaiting a renewal of their IRP card who were intending to travel was initially in place until 31 January 2026, and was subsequently extended to the end of February 2026. While there are currently no plans to further amend the rules for those awaiting IRP renewals, this position is being kept under review.
If a person has any queries relating to their immigration permission or renewal, they can contact the registration office using my Departments Customer Service Portal. The Customer Service Portal can be accessed at the following link: https://portal.irishimmigration.ie/en/.
Details on how to submit a query to the registration office can be found at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/submitting-registration-or-renewal-queries/.
Processing times for employment permits are a matter for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
