A NEW SHORT-TERM visa waiver programme means that people from 16 countries – including China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia - can travel visa-free to Ireland once they have a valid British visa.
UK visa holders from 16 selected countries can now stay in Ireland for up to 90 days or until their British visa expires, whichever is shorter, in a move aimed at attracting tourists and business visitors from emerging markets and those attending next summer’s Olympic Games in London.
In addition, nationals from the 16 countries who are long-term UK residents – estimated at some one million people – can visit Ireland without paying a visa fee.
The scheme, which is part of the Government’s Jobs Initiative and led by the Department of Justice, Equality and Defence, will run as a pilot up to the end of October 2012.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the proposal was noteworthy as coming from a department “not ordinarily” seen as a “generator of economic activity”, while Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar emphasised that the waiver would attract new visitors from “fast-growing countries like India, China and the Gulf states” who are “only just becoming aware” of Ireland as a tourism destination.
Tourism Ireland, which is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a holiday destination, also strongly welcomed the initiative.
According to its chief executive Niall Gibbons, it will encourage tourists visiting the UK to come to Ireland, “without the cost or hassle of applying for a separate visa”.
The organisation said it has a “busy promotional programme” underway in China, India and the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) countries to highlight the new scheme, and is interacting with “influential media” and the travel trade in those countries.
- The 16 countries are: India, Kazakhstan, Peoples Republic of China, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
