For those interesed in the Irish immigration system, the Minister of Justice, Micheal McDowell TD, has announced the establishment of the Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service (INIS) which will incorporate and hopefully stream-line all of the current immigration divisions here in Ireland. The idea is to offer a 'one-stop shop' for all migrants coming into Ireland whatever their personal position is, ie (work permit, asylum, citizenship...)
Right now, these sectors are divided between a number of governmental departments and lack of cross-over between them cause delays in processing non-nationals & confusion between the non-nationals themselves (it did for me anyway when I first arrived!
The idea is to get all immigation matters under one roof & try to organize it entirely.Currently, Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment handle work permits, work authorisations/visas. The Dept of Justice handle citizenship, visa policy, leave to remain and security issues. The Dept of Foreign Affairs handle visa applications and the Garda (immigratrion bureau) handle border control, registration of non-nationals & deportation. The provision of visa services at diplomatic & consular missions abroad will remain with the Dept of Foreign Affairs.
The idea is to review the new Dept in a year and see how it's going.
Check out the formal press release on www.justice.ie.
Maria