The Irish government has extended its visa-free travel ban for South Africa and some South American countries due to concerns around Coivd-19.<\/p>\n
Answering parliamentary questions, Ireland’s minister of Justice Helen McEntee said that the ban will be extended ‘until it is no longer needed for public health reasons’, the Irish Times<\/a><\/strong> reported.<\/p>\n The measures are designed to support current public health restrictions on movement – including into and out of Ireland – and the decision to introduce the ban was made based on expert public health advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team, McEntee said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strong advice is that everyone, regardless of their nationality or visa\/preclearance status, or where they started their travel from, who cannot provide proof of an essential purpose to travel to or within Ireland, should not travel to Ireland,” she said.<\/p>\n \u201cFurther visa requirements may be introduced to other non-EEA countries in the future, where they are deemed necessary and appropriate, to support public health measures approved by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the Irish government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic, as of midnight on 27 January 2021, a new visa requirement<\/strong><\/a> was introduced for South African passport holders wishing to travel to Ireland.<\/p>\n It is currently against the law for any person\u00a0 – regardless of nationality or passport – to travel within Ireland for non-essential purposes and people can be fined for doing so.<\/p>\n The Irish Embassy said the situation will continue to be reviewed in consultation with the relevant authorities in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n “In the meantime, South African nationals should not at this time apply online for a visa unless the reason for travel falls into the priority\/ emergency category,” it said.<\/p>\n A number of other countries have also indicated that travellers from South Africa will be barred from entering \u2013 a sign that the country could be facing reputational damage as a result of the 501Y.V2 variant of Covid-19, which has been referred to as the \u201cSouth African variant\u201d abroad.<\/p>\n
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