Family processing times: Irish Government responds to Permits Foundation concerns
02 June 2025On 23 April, in response to concerns raised by our network, Permits Foundation wrote to the Irish Minister for Justice to recommend that measures be taken to reduce the current processing times for join family visas.
Impacted applications include family members of employment permit holders, and family members of Irish, EEA, and UK nationals. The waiting times for certain categories of family members to join has stretched to an intolerable 92 weeks.
In our letter, Permits Foundation requested confirmation that reducing family processing times is being considered a priority. We asked for clarity around the measures being taken, including when processing times might be brought within the government’s own targets. You can read our letter here.
We are pleased to report that The Minister’s office has replied, letting us know that the matter is being addressed. See the response below. Permits Foundation will continue to monitor the situation in Ireland and press for improvement.
Response from Minister for Justice’s Office:
Dear Ms. Frew,
Thank you for your correspondence to the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD. I am responding to you on behalf of the Minister.
The Minister understands that extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants. I want to assure you that the Visa Office is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.
In 2024, approximately 201,000 visa applications, of all types, were received by the Visa Division of the Department. This reflects an increase of 21%, compared to 2023, with over 35,000 additional applications received. The Department’s Visa Division is working to meet the increased level of demand and the number of decisions issued in 2024 increased by 18%.
Processing times and decisions at the Dublin Visa Office can be checked at the following link which is updated each Tuesday: www.irishimmigration.ie/visa-decisions/.
The date published on the website is the oldest date of application currently being processed under a given category. However, it should be noted that the Visa team continue to process and make decisions on applications received after the published processing date. If a particular application takes longer to consider this may result in the published processing date remaining unchanged. I can assure you that this does not indicate the processing of these applications has halted overall, or that the date indicated represents a typical or median processing time.
The Department is committed to providing the best possible service to applicants. To provide greater clarity, officials in the Department are currently in the process of updating the Immigration Service website for processing times for decisions on visa applications by the Dublin visa office.
In recent months, additional resources and staff have been assigned to the Department’s Visa Division which we expect will reduce the waiting times for all applications.
Since the introduction of the Immigration Service’s new Digital Contact Centre (DCC), visa applicants can now directly check the status of their application, raise queries or submit documents in support of their visa application. They can register to use the DCC, or log in to their existing account, at https://portal.irishimmigration.ie/en/
I trust this information is of some assistance.
Yours sincerely,
Emma McHugh
Private Secretary to the Minister for Justice
