Starting on Monday, March 10, people from Eswatini, Nauru, and Lesotho who hold passports need to apply for a visa before traveling to Ireland. The Irish authorities have also introduced a transit visa for these nationals if they plan to travel through Ireland to another Schengen country, as reported in the news.
The Department of Justice has made it clear that nationals of Eswatini, Nauru, and Lesotho who had planned to travel before March 10 can get emergency travel accommodation in certain cases. These cases include:
Critical medical situations involving family members, but evidence from proper authorities is required.
Traveling for family events like a birth, wedding, or funeral. For each of these, enough evidence is needed.
Going to Ireland to start a job and having an Irish Employment Permit.
Business travel.
Irish Minister Jim O’Callaghan said that these new measures are meant to help with legitimate travel, not to restrict people from Nauru, Eswatini, and Lesotho. Also, the Department of Justice said that Irish visa requirements are constantly being looked at. The aim is to keep effective immigration controls while also making it easier for people who have good reasons to enter Ireland.
Data from the Department of Justice shows that in 2024, 392,217 short – stay visas were given to people from third countries to enter Ireland. This is the highest number of visas given between 2017 and 2024. The data also shows that the countries with the most people getting Irish visas are India and China. India had 39,942 people get visas, and China had 12,267. Türkiye came third with 4,795 visas given.
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