Irish And US Citizens Can Now Apply For One-Year Working Holiday Visas

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Micheál Martin, T.D., has announced that eligible Irish and US citizens can now begin to apply for one year working visas under the new Ireland-US Working Holiday Agreement.

Announcing their availability the Minister said: "Last September, the US Deputy Secretary of State and I successfully concluded a new Working Holiday Agreement. We have moved without delay to complete the necessary internal procedures and guidelines and I am delighted to confirm that Irish and US citizens can now begin to submit their applications."

Highlighting the key elements of the Programme, the Minister said that it would enable a minimum of 20,000 Irish citizens who are in, or have recently completed, post secondary education to work and travel in the US for up to 12 months and that up to 5,000 US citizens will also be able to work and travel in Ireland on a similar basis.

The Minister emphasised the considerable benefits that the new Programme will bring to the long term health of our relationship with the US. He pointed out: "By working and travelling for a relatively lengthy period in each others' countries, our young people will build important connections which will help maintain our very close ties to the US - it represents in a very real way a major investment in the health and strength of this vital relationship."

In order to qualify for the programme participants should be either in post-secondary education or have recently graduated (i.e. within 12 months).

This new programme will not effect 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.

He also highlighted the success of a similar arrangement with Australia in which over 17,000 Irish people participated last year-and expressed the hope that the US programme would be equally successful.

Minister Martin stressed that this initiative is separate to the Government's ongoing campaign to find a solution to our undocumented, saying, "This Programme is just one element in our three pronged approach to reforming our migration arrangements with the US. The Government is determined to push for early progress on the remaining two: a solution for the undocumented Irish; and a new bilateral arrangement which would create reciprocal long term working visas (known as E3s)."

The Minister emphasised that "finding a solution for our undocumented remains a key priority for this Government."