Individuals entering Ireland from any of 49 visa-exempt countries are not subject to routine background checks or criminal vetting, it has emerged.
The issue came to prominence this week after Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed that a convicted rapist from Guyana, Randi Gladstone, had been able to enter the country without a visa or any prior vetting. Gladstone, who had 19 previous convictions in the UK, raped and falsely imprisoned an 18-year-old woman in Dublin days after his arrival in Ireland.
“The issue here seems to be that this man was not known to our immigration services,” Harris told Gript.
According to information published by Citizens Information, nationals of 49 countries – including Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates – do not need a visa to land in Ireland. This also applies to short-term tourists from a number of British overseas territories and Commonwealth countries.
Visa-free entry allows travellers to bypass any application process before arrival, meaning that Irish authorities are not notified of their travel plans in advance and cannot access their criminal history unless flagged by international databases such as Interpol.
As of now, visa-free access is granted to citizens of the following countries:
– Andorra
– Antigua & Barbuda
– Argentina
– Australia
– Bahamas
– Barbados
– Belize
– Brazil
– Brunei
– Canada
– Chile
– Costa Rica
– El Salvador
– Fiji
– Grenada
– Guatemala
– Guyana
– Hong Kong (SAR)
– Israel
– Japan
– Kiribati
– Macau (SAR)
– Malaysia
– Maldives
– Mexico
– Monaco
– New Zealand
– Nicaragua
– Panama
– Paraguay
– Saint Kitts & Nevis
– Saint Lucia
– Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
– Samoa
– San Marino
– Seychelles
– Singapore
– Solomon Islands
– South Korea
– Swaziland (Eswatini)
– Taiwan
– Tonga
– Tuvalu
– Ukraine
– United Arab Emirates
– United Kingdom (including certain British overseas citizens and nationals)
– United States
– Uruguay
– Vatican City
From May 12th 2025, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago will no longer be visa-exempt.
Travellers who arrive under visa-free arrangements are generally admitted unless they are flagged by existing alerts or deemed suspicious at the point of entry. Unlike asylum applicants, they are not fingerprinted, photographed, or interviewed by immigration officers beyond the standard arrival process.
Even in the case of asylum seekers, however, fingerprint checks only apply to the EU’s EURODAC system, which contains biometric data on asylum applications, not criminal records.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when asked about details of how this system works.
Despite the scale of Ireland’s visa waiver system, there appears to be no automatic exchange of criminal information between Ireland and countries such as Mexico or Brazil, unless separate intelligence sharing agreements are in place or specific requests are made.
Harris has said the State needs to review these arrangements in light of recent events.
“I do think it raises legitimate questions about how we tighten up further our checks in relation to countries where there is visa-free travel, and I will be raising this matter with the Minister for Justice,” he said.
Ireland also permits visa-free access to EU/EEA nationals, Swiss citizens, some holders of UK visas under the British-Irish Visa Scheme, and certain EU-resident school groups.
There is currently no indication that criminal vetting will be introduced for short-stay travellers from these countries.