New US visas welcomed

New US visas welcomed as McCain shows interest in undocumented Irish


Neill O’Neill

THE USA could soon surpass Australia as the country to which young Irish people travel to broaden their horizons for a year, after a new American Visa scheme was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin on September 24.
However, the plight of the undocumented Irish in America is not a factor in the new scheme, though hopes of a breakthrough in this area were boosted last week when Republican Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, vowed before the Irish-American Presidential Forum in Pennsylvania, that if elected, he would introduce comprehensive immigration reform that would give the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US ‘a path to citizenship’.
Speaking on RTÉ radio last week, Louisburgh native, Ciarán Staunton, who is Deputy Chairperson of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) in America, said Senator McCain had reiterated his interest in resolving the issue of the undocumented in a meeting with the ILIR, at which he said that, if elected, his number one priority during his first year  would be to get immigration reform.
“We’ve had great access to Senator McCain,” Mr Staunton said. “Every event we’ve invited him to over the past two years, both in Washington and in the Bronx, he has shown up at. I spent half an hour talking with him about the issue of the undocumented Irish and other Irish-American issues and he didn’t need notes or staff. He gets the issue, which is in contrast to his opponent. We have, as of yet, been unable to get Barack Obama to turn up to any of our events.”
Ciarán Staunton added that the ILIR do not endorse candidates, ‘but as of now there is certainly only one who has shown an interest’.
Under the new scheme, the US Government will make available as many as 20,000 visas for Irish citizens, which will permit them to work and travel in the US for a period of 12 months. This arrangement will be reciprocated with the Irish Government approving up to 5,000 work authorisations for US citizens – which will permit them to work in Ireland on the same basis. Both US and Irish citizens will be free to secure employment on arrival in each country.
In order to qualify for the programme, participants should be either in post-secondary education or have recently graduated. This new programme will not affect the operation of the highly successful Student Work and Travel programme which permits students from the US and Ireland to work and travel for several months every summer. This J1 programme will continue to exist as a separate, more limited, programme.
Speaking as Chairperson of the country’s largest youth political organisation, Ógra Fianna Fáil, Ballina’s Deputy Dara Calleary said that this visa programme will give a new generation of Mayo people the opportunity to live in and explore the United States for a long period.
“This programme is an important step towards ensuring the strong and historic links between the US and Mayo are maintained. It will ensure that the economic, social and cultural links that exist between our county and America will remain into the future,” he said.

Details of how people can apply will soon be made available on the Department of Foreign Affairs website at www.dfa.ie.