INDIAN tourists will now be able to travel around Britain and Ireland on a single visa.
The British-Irish Visa Scheme was launched in India this week and will see a mutual recognition of short term visas between Britain and Ireland.
The agreement was signed by both the Irish and British Governments last October and already applies to visitors from China.
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said that a worldwide rollout of the scheme will be a priority for her department over the next year.
The scheme applies to short term visas for tourism only – students or workers will still have to apply for individual visas for each country.
The country first visited will be the one tourists must apply to, explained the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“If you have an Irish short stay visa and you want to also visit the United Kingdom you must travel to Ireland first. If you have a British visit visa and you want to also visit Ireland you must travel to the United Kingdom first,” it added.
Following the expansion to India, the DFA added that the scheme is still in the “pilot stage”, with the addition of India being viewed as a trial run for the international expansion of its visa plans.
