The Immigration service is pleased to confirm that the Short Stay Visa Waiver Programme has resumed. It had been suspended due to Covid-19 but the Minister for Justice has signed an order allowing for its resumption with effect from the morning of 31 October 2021. This Programme allows people visiting the United Kingdom on short stay visas to travel to Ireland. Under the agreement, the visa holders have to leave Ireland before their permission to stay in the UK ends.
The number of countries covered by this programme has also increased to twenty-four with the addition of seven new countries. These new countries are Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, the Republic of North Macedonia, Kosovo, Colombia and Peru. The full list of countries covered by this programme is as follows
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Colombia
- India
- Indonesia
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Montenegro
- Oman
- People’s Republic of China
- Peru
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Republic of North Macedonia
- Russian Federation
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
Full details on the Programme can be found here.