De Facto Relationships Ireland

good luck!

rian_dublin wrote: »

Hi,

My girlfriend (Brazil) and I (Irish) are planning on applying for the De Facto visa. We are together 2 years and are confident we can put a good case of evidences together. Our main concerns relate to the fact that she is a) not currently in the country (although she has spent 6 years in total in Ireland on student visas) and b) we both had planned on volunteering abroad towards the end of the year (for up to a year). So the main questions we have that I would be very grateful if someone could answer are:

1) Can we apply if my girlfriend is out of the country? I assume GNIB would know this based on the fact there is no current/valid visa in her passport pages? Is this the type of thing they check for?

2) If an application is approved, how long do we have to bring the approval letter to a Garda Station to receive the Stamp 4? i.e. if we receive the approval letter in September and we are out of the country, can we wait until we are back in Ireland in December to get the stamp?

Thanks in advance for any help

I'm just replying to the second question here. You have a limited time allowance to actually go to the INIS and get the new gnib card..it tells you when you get the letter stating the application has been successful. I can't remember off hand how long it is but it's definitely not as long as you would need upto December if you are accepted in sept

Our application (OH is Brazilian) also took 6 months exactly.

I would also explicitly make a point in your application that you are planning to travel together for a long period.. As they really are picky in regards to the applicant being outside the country for so long.. As it states when you get the granting letter that she should remain in the state but can travel for longer periods for family emergencies etc... I'm not sure how strict they are in enforcing this though, but definitely something to bare in mind.

I am a US citizen (non-EU citizen) and have applied, via the EU1 application to INIS for recognition of my Defacto relationship with an EU citizen in Ireland. They have confirmed receipt of my application and say that it will be dealt with in the next few weeks.
I arrived on a 90 day visitor approval. I intend to stay and work. The instructions state that permission to remain may be granted while they process my application. My focus now is being eligible to work. If/when my application is approved, I understand that I will not need a work permit.
My question is about, in the interim. If they are satisfied that sufficient documentation has been provided, then they will provide me with an 'immigration stamp', good to remain for a period of time sufficient for them to complete the processing of my application, but WHAT STAMP? Will I be eligible, in the interim, to work and given that the recognition of my Defatco partner status is pending, would I be eligible to work with a permit?
I posed the question to them today, I was referred to the instructions for the EU1 form, which does not answer the question of WHAT STAMP and if I will be eligible to work.
The answer should be much simpler than it seems to be however I find myself posting this, to the general public.
Anyone know?

Once your application is processing you can legally stay in Ireland until you get a reply. I'm not sure how quickly you have to leave if it's rejected, however.

My girlfriend and I applied for the visa about a month and a half before her working holiday visa expired. It took 2-3 months to get the defacto visa with stamp 4.

JFK20 wrote: »

I am a US citizen (non-EU citizen) and have applied, via the EU1 application to INIS for recognition of my Defacto relationship with an EU citizen in Ireland. They have confirmed receipt of my application and say that it will be dealt with in the next few weeks.
I arrived on a 90 day visitor approval. I intend to stay and work. The instructions state that permission to remain may be granted while they process my application. My focus now is being eligible to work. If/when my application is approved, I understand that I will not need a work permit.
My question is about, in the interim. If they are satisfied that sufficient documentation has been provided, then they will provide me with an 'immigration stamp', good to remain for a period of time sufficient for them to complete the processing of my application, but WHAT STAMP? Will I be eligible, in the interim, to work and given that the recognition of my Defatco partner status is pending, would I be eligible to work with a permit?
I posed the question to them today, I was referred to the instructions for the EU1 form, which does not answer the question of WHAT STAMP and if I will be eligible to work.
The answer should be much simpler than it seems to be however I find myself posting this, to the general public.
Anyone know?

I'm not sure what the EU1 application is, but I don't think your interim stamp will be one that gives eligibility to work, since that is usually stamp 4 and lasts a year. possibly you'll receive an extension on your 90 days (when that expires).

rgt320q wrote: »

Also, were any others here given confirmation that their application had been received? how soon after submitting?

Our de facto application was mailed on Aug 22 by registered post, and received by INIS on Aug 26. We have still not received any confirmation of receipt from them, but I spoke to the front desk at Burgh Quay, and he said that there is a massive backlog at the moment and that it is taking 4-6 weeks for them to even open the applications. Everyone was extremely nice at Burgh Quay, but they all were pretty clear that it is an extremely long process with no precise timelines available.

If/when I get our confirmation of receipt, I'll update this post.

FYI, followers of this thread might be interested in my post in one of the other relevant forums noting that the INIS website content on de facto permits has recently been updated.

Riat, we have been waiting for almost 6 weeks and have not yet had any confirmation. Burgh Quay told me that unfortunately there is a large backlog at the moment and that it was taking 4-6 weeks for mail to the de facto department to be opened...so you may be waiting a while longer I'm afraid. I'll update this if I get any news.

Sent my application on the 20th of May and got the approval on the 30th of September, whew!

Got an email from INIS today to say that I have been granted Stamp 4 for twelve months based on my de facto relationship. So all in all that worked out at about 5 weeks. We had a very straight forward application, that was as clearly laid out as possible, so I imagine it took less time to investigate and process.

I know that the not knowing is hard, but I think that INIS is doing their best to improve the process...hence the updated website.

Good luck to everyone else!

You can try calling, but I'm pretty sure the hotline has been discontinued, and there are no other numbers. Your best bet for communication is probably by post or dropping off mail in person at Burgh Quay. Good luck!

Hi everyone,

I'm a successful defacto applicant that's about to go into renew after 12mths and whilst trying to get further clarification on what I need to provide to support the renewal of the GNIB card and defacto status being extended I've noticed alot of comments on here about people still waiting for an answer...

Like alot of you I was waiting ages with no reply.. back then there wasn't a ph no to call that gave u a person, there was only an email address and a mailing address - I sent letters almost begging for a reply to help them along a bit but as there seemed to be so many applications those emails and letters didn't get any answer.

So I went for a more pro-active approach and went in nearly every day for 2 weeks to the reception area at the front of the building (not the area that gives you tickets, the 1st reception area). I found a lovely younger guy on reception there who was able to empathize with my/our situation being that I had already been on a work permit and was only swapping from that to a stamp 4. Also I told him how we were saving for a house and that without the stamp 4 change I was unable to take on a 2nd job or a better paying 1.

Also highlighted that I'd tried all other avenues of contacting my case worker but was unsuccessful and that I was really worried I had missed some kind of correspondence from them etc. He then called the defacto dept (which is upstairs in that same building) and spoke to them. they were out to lunch at least 3 of the days I tried to start with but I got the case workers name so eventually she was there and available to call down to talk to me face to face on the last day I went into (about 2wks later having gone into the office every day or every 2nd day).

The lady explained she had been meaning to contact me for a few weeks but had overlooked it.. In my case the delay was purely due to me not having provided proof of my partner’s employment in Ireland - noting that if you Irish partner isn't employed in the state (Ireland) then the can reject the application. She told me I could hand deliver the letter to her the next day and it would then be processed and approved. I did this and whilst it did still take another week or so to receive the official approval letter I at least knew it was approved and only a matter of days to get the official letter etc.

I do feel sorry for the workers in that office as they are very much trying to get through the applications as quickly as they can but I do recommend to all of you applying, make sure you are pro-active and don't be shy about chasing up daily on it!!! Without the face to face contact of goin in to the office daily I was just another pile of paperwork - by putting the face to the application the humanity of how real your application and your desire as a couple to make a life in Ireland can be felt and hopefully clear up any paperwork that might be missing or under question.

In the end my application was received in May and approval came out to me approved as of 9th October - and that was last year when they didn't have the lovely detailed information on their website explaining what to include like they do now!!

Anyway I wish you all the best of luck with it and I hope this info has been of some help to those feeling a bit lost in the paperwork and disheartened by the waiting

2ND TOPIC: ANYONE WHO HAS GONE TO RENEW / EXTEND THEIR DE FACTO STAMP 4 STATUS - CAN YOU HELP ME WITH WHAT YOU NEEDED TO SHOW DOCUMENTATION WISE TO RENEW PLEASE?

THE APPROVAL LETTER IS VERY VAGUE AS WELL AS THE WEBSITE SAYING "YOUR APPROVAL LETTER GIVES INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO RENEW/EXTEND" WHICH IS BASICALLY A LOOP!!

I'm hoping to not have to go into the GNIB office more than once if we need more documentation to support the renewal/extension which why I'm hoping somebody else out there has gone through the renewal process recently and can share their experience and what was asked documentation wise...?

Thanks!!

Hi,

I am same situation as you BrianM,I visa is expired still waiting to extend ,I need to go to them regarding that ,in email they said I need to keep application form and send orginal passports ,do anybody know what is application form and do anybody submitted original passports ,they said they received application but sending back the documents as I need to include application form and original passports,I am waiting for documents and letter still to reapply again and go to renew visa ,its been two week my visa is expired and writing emails to them ,hope to hear from you,thank you

Hey Rita.
I am not sure about quick as they still haven't even looked at our application!!!!!