The Immigration Service Delivery have issued a further notice with respect to Covid-19 Visa Arrangements as of the 4th of March 2021.
The ISD have confirmed that the decision to temporarily cease accepting new Visa/Pre-Clearance applications as commenced on the 29th of January 2021 has been further extended to the 5th of April 2021. The notice advises that the situation will continue to be reviewed in consultation with the relevant authorities in the coming weeks.
The notice confirms that applications received before 29th January 2021, including Visa appeals, will continue to be processed. However, unless the applications fall under the Emergency/Priority criteria as listed in their previous notice, the physical Visa or Pre-Clearance approval letter will not issue until the restrictions have been lifted.
The Visa office continues to accept, and process Visa appeals and Pre-Clearance application appeals. Where appeals are successful, unless the category falls under the Emergency/Priority category list, then the physical Visa or Pre-Clearance approval letter will not issue until restrictions are lifted. The Visa Office will provide confirmation that the appeal or Visa application has been successful but will not issue the physical Visa sticker.
Applicants can continue to submit their online Visa applications, completing the application through the AVTAS system, however, they will not be able to submit the supporting Visa documentation to the relevant Visa offices.
As advised in our previous Visa update, the immigration teams at Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork offices continue to accept instructions from applicants seeking to apply for Visa’s to enter the State and we would still encourage applicants to arrange all of their paperwork and submit the online forms so that they are ready to submit the hardcopy supporting documentation to the Visa office as soon as the restrictions have eased.
The requirement for passport holders from certain South American countries and citizens of South Africa to apply for entry Visa’s remains in place also.
The full update can be read on the Immigration Service Delivery website.
Sinnott Solicitors have a specialist team of Immigration Solicitors and Immigration Consultants located in our Dublin and Cork offices who are experts on all Irish immigration matters. Should you have any queries with respect to any of the information contained in this article or any other immigration matters, do not hesitate to contact our immigration department in Cork or Dublin today on 014062862 or info@sinnott.ie.
