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Ireland triples visa officials to clear SA applications backlog

The Republic of Ireland has doubled the number officials processing visa applications from South Africans seeking to visit or work in that country, as it moves to clear an 18-month backlog caused by a huge spike in visa applications. Neale Richmond, minister of state, said the decision to impose strict visa conditions was taken over a year ago when the country experienced a 100% increase in people entering the island nation from South Africa and Nigeria and claiming international protected status. 'That's why we put them on the list of those who require visas, to stop people who were coming because it was visa-free travel. They were getting here claiming international protection,' Richmond said on the sidelines of the Africa-Ireland Horizons conference in Dublin. The imposition of the strict visa regime resulted in applications for work, family and travel visas taking up to 18 months to process as the government agency responsible could not cope with the many applications. Richmond said, 'Those moves were very harsh, but they were necessary at the time to re-regulate migration. I have quite a large South African minority population in my constituency who've been here a long time; they have been here 20 to 25 years, they are Irish citizens, but Granny can't come and visit the new child, business partners can't come. The head of Nandos lives in my constituency ... It's had very real human consequences; it's been tough.' Richmond said a decision was taken to triple the number of officials processing visas from South Africa and this had brought the waiting time down to three months. 'We've doubled the resources in terms of visa applications in South Africa, both here in Dublin and at our embassy in Pretoria. The acute issue was far more (serious) in South Africa than Nigeria; not only for established commercial reasons but also for very clear people-to-people reasons. The process will now go much quicker but will always be under review,' he said.