Ireland’s government has announced that short-stay visas will be processed again as part of its response to the pandemic. Reports indicate that the Ireland Visa Application Centres (VACs) in India have also begun accepting applications for short stays, resulting in increased travel demand for the country.
In terms of short-stay visas, they allow visitors to stay up to 90 days in Ireland.
The Embassy of Ireland in India announced that short-stay visas eligible for the British Irish Visa Scheme would be endorsed by the letters ‘BIVS’ again. “All travellers arriving into Ireland must continue to comply with all measures required by law, including showing proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid-19, or a negative PCR test at the port of entry. “All remaining restrictions on entry visas and preclearance processing related to Covid-19, which were implemented to help reduce the spread of the disease, have now been lifted,” it said.
The Embassy also asked visa applicants to be aware of the current visa processing time in order to manage their travel expectations since requests for expedited applications cannot be considered at this time.
The processing time for visa applications in September (working days) is 25 days for a visit visa, 20 days for a study visa, and 10 days for a business visa, according to the embassy’s website.
Ireland removed India from the list of Designated States for Mandatory Hotel Quarantine at the end of August, so people traveling from India who are fully vaccinated no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine in hotels for 14 days. Such travellers must also have a negative RT-PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours before entering the country, in addition to the vaccine certificate. Currently, Ireland accepts travellers who have received vaccines from AstraZeneca/Covishield, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. Travelers from India can enter Ireland 15 days after the last dose of Covishield.
