New visa requirements on passport holders from a number of South American countries and South Africa, came into effect at midnight on Wednesday 27th January 2021.
Passport holders of the following countries are now required to apply for an entry visa or transit visa, before travelling to Ireland:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia (transit visa now required – this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)
- Ecuador (transit visa now required – this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)
- Guyana
- Paraguay
- Peru (transit visa now required – this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)
- South Africa
- Suriname (transit visa now required – this country is already subject to entry visa requirements)
- Uruguay
In addition to the new requirements above, the Department of Justice has also taken the decision to temporarily stop accepting new visa/pre-clearance applications, which came into effect on 29th of January 2021. However, certain Priority/Emergency cases will continue to be processed and these include the following:
- Workers or self-employed persons exercising critical occupations including healthcare workers, frontier and posted workers as well as seasonal workers as referred to in the Guidelines concerning the exercise of the free movement of workers during the COVID-19 outbreak;
- Transport workers or transport service providers, including drivers of freight vehicles carrying goods for use in the territory as well as those merely transiting;
- Patients travelling for imperative medical reasons;
- Pupils, students and trainees who travel abroad on a daily basis and Third-country nationals travelling for the purpose of 3rd level study;
- Persons travelling for imperative family or business reasons;
- Diplomats, staff of international organisations and people invited by international organisations whose physical presence is required for the well-functioning of these organisations; military personnel and police officers, and humanitarian aid workers and civil protection personnel in the exercise of their functions;
- Passengers in transit;
- Seafarers;
- Journalists, when performing their duties.
If your application falls into one of these categories, you can apply online here. Once you’ve completed the online application, you should follow the instructions given on the summary page as to where you should submit your application.
If you are unsure as to whether you require a visa/preclearance to enter Ireland you can check here.
The measures above were put in place in an effort to tackle the spread of Covid-19. Therefore, the situation will continue to be reviewed in the coming weeks.
If you require any further information relating to this, please do not hesitate to contact a caseworker via our contact form here.
