THE GOVERNMENT will shortly consider whether to introduce new visa requirements for visitors from almost a dozen non-EU states in light of an imminent British decision on whether to impose a tougher visa regime on citizens from 11 states.
The British Home Office will next month decide whether to revoke the right of visa-free travel to the UK from citizens of Brazil, South Africa and nine other countries. Following a "visa waiver test" of all non-EU countries, it said last summer that there was a "strong case" for imposing a tighter visa regime for 11 countries. These were Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The test looked at the level of risk nationals from all non-EU countries posed, based on factors such as illegal immigration, crime and security.
The British list includes a number of countries - particularly Brazil and Mauritius - where the Irish Government believes relatively high numbers of illegal immigrants here originate and the Department of Justice may follow suit in imposing tougher visa rules on citizens from these countries.
A spokeswoman said the department was aware of the change being considered by the British.
"In the event of the United Kingdom deciding to implement such a change, the question of whether or not Ireland will impose similar requirements will be given full consideration, particularly in light of the common travel area which operates between Ireland and the United Kingdom," she added.
In July, the British government said visitors from the 11 countries would require a new, six-month visa unless the "risk" posed by nationals from these states was significantly reduced by the end of the year.
The Government believes some people from "visa-free" states abuse the absence of a visa requirement to enter the State as students or tourists with the intention of staying to work and officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau turn away significant numbers of visitors at port of entry for that reason.
Last March, a diplomatic row broke out between Ireland and Brazil over the detention in Mountjoy Prison of three students who arrived at Dublin airport.
The case became a national news story in Brazil and led to the police there being called to investigate a bomb threat at the Irish embassy in the capital Brasilia. The students said it was their intention to stay in Dublin for the weekend and return to Portugal, where they were enrolled at university. The department insists there is no automatic right to enter the State, even for citizens of visa-free states, and immigration officers have to make "judgment calls" in each case.
Any move to tighten the rules on visa-free travel may be opposed by tourism officials, who believe the absence of visa requirements for short stays gives Ireland a useful advantage in attracting visitors. The British government said it arrived at the list of 11 states - which have a combined population of over 300 million - by looking at passport security and integrity, the level of co-operation in dealing with deportations of a country's nationals from the UK, the number of illegal workers in the UK and other "immigration abuse", as well as levels of crime and terrorism risk posed to the UK. The extent to which a country's authorities were addressing these threats was also assessed.
A Home Office spokeswoman said a decision would be made at the end of the year.
