HOME Secretary Teresa May and Ireland’s Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald have launched a new British-Irish Visa Scheme at the Irish Embassy in London.
The political pair signed a Memorandum of Understanding last week allowing international visitors to travel freely within the Common Travel Area using a single visa issued by either Ireland or Britain.
Travellers from China and India will be the first to benefit from the landmark scheme, which it’s hoped will provide and economic boost for both islands when it comes into effect later this month.
“Our aim is to boost tourism and business travel to our countries and, together, we are sending a clear and powerful message that these islands are open for business,” Minister Fitzgerald said.
“It is truly remarkable, and a potent symbol of the transformation in British Irish relations, that the Home Secretary and I are jointly launching an initiative of unprecedented cooperation between our countries – something that but a few years ago would have seemed an impossibility,” she added.
The pair spent an afternoon last week as guests of Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall at the Irish Embassy, where they signed the historic memorandum while agreeing to implement the visa scheme by the end of this month and review the operation and its success in early 2015.
They also revealed that the first nation to trial the scheme would be China, followed closely by India, with all other nations due to be added by the end of 2015 – subject to the completion of their initial review.
Home Secretary Theresa May said: “I am delighted to be able to sign this Memorandum of Understanding. This agreement will make it easier and more attractive for travellers to visit both Ireland and the UK, while at the same time strengthening Common Travel Area borders.”
The women went on to thank officials in both governments for assisting the development of the scheme and the Chinese government for ‘facilitating arrangements’ for their applicants who wish to use it.
The new visas will end a system that requires tourists and business visitors from China and India to get two separate visas if they wish to travel between Britain and the North of Ireland and the Republic.
They will now be able to use a single visa to move between all borders across the two countries.
To support the new scheme the Minister and Home secretary have also signed a new agreement for the sharing of immigration data between both countries’ immigration authorities.
Minister Fitzgerald said the new scheme marked “an historic development in the relationship between Ireland and the UK”.
She added: “It is anticipated that this initiative will make a significant and lasting contribution to the economic prosperity and security of both our countries, including Northern Ireland as visitors to Ireland will now be able to visit Northern Ireland without having to obtain a separate UK visa.”
Before leaving the embassy, Theresa May added: “Our two governments are proud of what the UK and Ireland have to offer to Chinese and Indian visitors, and we look forward to welcoming many more to our countries through this new scheme”.
Tourism bodies on both islands are now expected to work jointly on projects promoting tourism travel to Ireland and Britain.
