New visa requirement for Mauritius citizen from 01.01.2010 !

[bluechilli]

Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) is stating on its website that :

As and from 1 January 2010 nationals of Mauritius will be subject to an Irish visa requirement.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Do_I_need_a_Visa

No further explanation is provided for the reason of this change of policy from INIS. No change of the "white list" (Schedule 1 of the SI 239 (2009)) has been made.

The press office of the Department of Justice don't want to comment on this change.

Citizens of the Republic of Ireland currently enjoy visa-free travel to the Republic of Mauritius.

Citizens of the Republic of Mauritius currently enjoy visa-free travel to 27 EC countries (including UK and Ireland).

[bluechilli]

This information is from http://ecvisawaiver.wordpress.com

What the rationale for this change to the Schedule 1 of the SI 239 ?

Visa and pre-entry clearance systems are at the core of immigration controls and the inclusion of nationalities on lists of persons who require visas is usually the result of experience regarding the nationalities concerned. There are currently over 5000 Mauritian nationals registered with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, mostly as students. Taking the population of Mauritius as being approximately 1.25 million this means that 1 in every 250 Mauritian nationals is in Ireland.

A new poll is organised on http://ecvisawaiver.wordpress.com in which you can give your opinion regarding this new visa requirement. The poll is open to everyone and you don't have to be register. Multiple answers permitted to the question permitted.

[Ben]

This information is from http://ecvisawaiver.wordpress.com

Says there Mauritian's will only need a visa to visit "South Ireland". You'll be fine in Galway then, but a visit to Waterford is a no-go.

[Obie]

Galway, is part of the Republic of Ireland, as far as i know.

A Mauritian citizen would require a visa to enter it, as they would for the other 25 counties of the Republic.

However they are visa exempted for the 6 Northern counties in Ulster, namely,
Antrim, Down, Armagh, Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

[Ben]

*sigh*

Nevermind.

[meats]

*sigh*

Nevermind.

I understood what you meant