Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin told members of the Dail (Irish Parliament) last week that people interested in applying for the new one-year J visas can do so as of November 1.

While outlining details of the 20,000 U.S. visas and 5,000 Irish visas to his colleagues Martin said, "The Agreement will come into effect on November 2008. We would hope to see the first visas issued shortly after that."

Martin said such a deal is "a very significant and positive development in our migration arrangements."

Martin, who signed the agreement during his recent visit to Washington, D.C., told the Dail that the announcement of new visas allowing new Irish into the U.S. was "warmly welcomed by community, sporting and business organizations in Ireland and the U.S."

The U.S. government agreed to make available up to 20,000 visas for Irish citizens each year, which will allow them to work and travel in the U.S. for 12 months, after which time they must return home.

Reciprocally, the Irish government will allow up to 5,000 U.S. citizens to work and travel in Ireland also for a year.

Each individual citizen will be free to secure employment upon arrive in each country. It will not be necessary to acquire a job prior to arrival in either country.

To qualify for the visa program, each participant must hold an Irish or U.S. passport. Each applicant must be in either post-secondary education which includes current enrollment in a third level institution or in a course that "could allow a student to go on obtain a degree," according to a source at the Department of Foreign Affairs, or have graduated within the preceding 12 months.

Martin said the new program will not effect the "highly successful" student work and travel program, currently in existence which permits students from the U.S. and Ireland to work and travel for several months every summer. "This J-1 program will continue to exist as a separate, more limited program," he said.

Martin reiterated his commitment to "actively pursuing the two other elements of a three pronged approach to ensure greater migration opportunities between the two countries."

The other elements Martin referred to are a new reciprocal arrangement to offer a long-term visa for Irish people wishing to work in the U.S., and U.S. citizens wanting to work in Ireland and to also obtain a solution for the estimated 50,000 Irish undocumented currently living in the U.S.

Said Martin, "I would like to emphasize that finding a solution for our undocumented citizens remains a key priority. In my meetings in Washington last month with U.S. political leaders, I stressed the importance which the government continues to attach to this issue. I also met with the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in New York and announced the allocation of an additional $50,000 to that organization, bringing total government funding to the ILIR to $235,000 since 2006."

For more information on the J visas, log onto the Department of Affairs website at www.dfa.ie. It is still not clear how an applicant may apply for a visa or how it will be administered in either country but interested parties are advised to keep an eye on the website for further announcements.

It is envisaged that the Embassy of Ireland in Washington and the consulates general of Ireland in Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco will accept applications from American citizens wishing to participate in the visa program in Ireland in the coming months.