mandatory quarantine:
▪ patients travelling for urgent medical reasons
▪ international transport workers in possession of an Annex 3 Certificate; Drivers of Heavy Goods Vehicles; Aviation and maritime crew
▪ Gardaí/defence forces, while carrying out their duties
▪ travel to the State pursuant to an arrest warrant, extradition proceedings or other mandatory legal obligation
▪ diplomats, or travel to perform the function of or provide services to an office holder or elected representative
▪ transit passengers who arrive for the purposes of travelling to another state, and who do not leave the port or airport.
o The following may temporarily leave their place of quarantine when necessary to perform their essential function – and only for as long as strictly required:
▪ a person required to carry out essential repair, maintenance, construction or safety assurance of critical transport infrastructure, critical utility infrastructure, manufacturing services, information services, or communication services
▪ a member of staff of an international organisation, or person invited, carrying out functions required for the proper functioning of such organisations and which cannot be carried out remotely
▪ a passenger who has been provided with written certification by Sport Ireland related to an internationally important competitive level event
▪ journalists, carrying out their professional functions.
• New visa/preclearance applications will temporarily not be accepted.
o 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.
• Effective until further notice, in addition to countries who were visa required prior to that date, passport holders of the following countries are now also required to apply for an entry visa or transit visa, as appropriate, before travelling to Ireland:
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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.
• The Department of Justice and Equality has recommenced issuing decisions on certain long-stay visas in certain categories, including tertiary study, employment and family reunion.
• The issuance of short-stay visas for non-emergency/priority travel remains suspended.
• The list of emergency/priority exemptions now includes:
o Healthcare professionals, health researchers, and elderly care professionals;
o Immediate family members of Irish citizens (who are returning to their ordinary place of residence in Ireland);
o Persons legally resident in the State;
o Persons entitled to avail of the provision of the EU Free Movement Directive;
o Transport personnel engaged in haulage of goods and other transport staff to the extent necessary;
o Frontier workers;
o Seasonal workers in agriculture;
o 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 humanitarian aid workers and civil protection personnel in the exercise of their functions;
o Passengers in transit;
o Passengers travelling for critical family reasons;
o Seafarers;
o Persons in need of international protection or for other humanitarian reasons;
o Third-country nationals travelling for the purpose of 3rd level study;
o Highly qualified third-country workers if their employment is necessary from an economic perspective and the work cannot be postponed or performed
abroad.
Immigration Restrictions
• Effective 23 December 2020, the Registration Office in Burgh Quay, Dublin will close until further notice.
o Customers with appointments for first time registrations are being contacted directly by the Immigration Service and they will be prioritised for
appointments once the Registration Office can safely reopen.
o Registrations outside of the Dublin area are processed by the Garda National Immigration Bureau through the Garda Station network.
• Customers renewing their Immigration Registration Permission will no longer need to submit their original passport to have an immigration stamp attached by their
Registration Office.
o From now on, immigration stamps will no longer be attached to passports, and the Irish Residence Permit (IRP) will prove that the applicant is legally
registered in Ireland.
o This applies to renewals made in the Burgh Quay Registration Office in Dublin and renewals made in local Registration Offices at Garda Stations nationwide.