De Facto Relationships Ireland

Cafeaulait13 wrote: »

1. Despite living together we don't have any documentation to prove this. I was not on the lease in Dublin and we our house sitting if France. Will the evidence we have been enough i.e. phone bills, photos, family photos, numerous holidays to each other, mail sent to one address the list goes on. I have literally kept everything that we could use!

2. We don't have a joint bank account. Will individual bank statements be enough to show as they say it that 'we are both contributing our life financially'?????

3. Can I apply pretty much straight away when we get back to Ireland or will I need permission to remain in the state?

1. This has been addressed repeatedly in the thread-- couples who have basically spent their entire relationship long-distance can and do get issued the De-Facto visa. You don't have to have EVER lived with each other to get the visa, so not being able to prove that you did live together won't hurt your case. That being said, you can always contact your old landlord from when you were leasing in Dublin and ask him/her to write a letter on your behalf, testifying to the both of you living there. Same for neighbors or whomever else in France. Or locals with whom you did business regularly.

It's a fairly subjective criteria, as far as Visa applications go. Don't stress yourself trying to think of it as factually prove the existence of your relationship. Instead, try to provide what I call "evidence of love." They basically just want to see that you and your loving pumpkinbutt (what, everyone doesn't call their significant other this?) actually know and like each other, and that other people have seen evidence of this love too. Pretty simple, really.

2. See point one, and relax a little. Basically, you both need to have a healthy amount of capital in your joint/separate bank statements so that you can deal with expected and unexpected financial hurdles while getting yourselves together. They don't need you to show that you each pay exactly 50% of the bills. I have heard *very unofficially* that you'll want 2000 euro plus in your account/accounts for smoother sailing through the financial section, but again, this was advice from an unofficial (though usually well-informed) source.

3. You can apply straight away after getting back, but you need to make sure you're there legally at the time of application. Meaning, you can't sneak in then claim it's okay for you to be there because your application is being processed. If your "legal" time in the country is almost up, though, you will generally have a bit of grace period while they are processing your app.

Hope this helps.

Hi,
Just to let you know. My partner got her Stamp 4 approval letter last friday. We applied mid May while she was on a tourist visa.
We are delighted.

Our situation probably differs a bit from the usual in that we returned to Ireland after been evacuated from Japan after the March 11th earthquake and Tsunami.

When we arrived back we gathered as much documentaion as we could and applied for the defacto relationship status.

• We supplied loads of dated photos going back just over two years.
• copys of our passport stamps and e tickets showing where we traveled together over the last year and a half.
• loads of emails we sent to each other over the duration of our relationship.
• Apartment lease with both our names but this was only from 1month before we returned to Ireland.
• A parking space lease with both name which was over two years.
• As we had no way of getting statements from our japanese banks we opened a joint account in AIB and got a Statement from that account.
• I was able to get over 2.5years of payslip from my companys website which was also useful.
• We took out health insurance plans with vhi.

It was a long wait but well worth it in the end.

Nope, no application. All the documents are your application Hope that helps

I wrote this on a separate thread but it's also relevant to this topic

I applied for the Defacto leave to remain on September 14. Five weeks ago. They sent me a correspondence letter a day later to say they have received my application. We started going out in March 2009. I met my partner in London and my UK Working Holiday visa expired in September 2009 so I obtained an Irish working holiday permit which lasted for 12 months. I had to go back to Australia in October 2010 as my visa had expired and we hadn't been together for 2 years. The INIS gave me a Stamp 3 permit which meant I couldn't work. She came out to Australia for 3 weeks in March for my cousin's wedding. I stayed in Australia till September this year for family reasons (my cousin and grandma had passed away) and landed back in Ireland. You have to be in the country to apply. The Gards renewed my Stamp 3 for another 12 months while I am waiting for my application. I didn't have any problems with getting back in to the country.

In my application I included

Joint Account details
Bank statements of individual accounts.
Birthday cards
Photos
Letters from my parents and hers
Letter from a former Tuinaste (sp?)
Letter from my previous employer here who is willing to take me back. I was on a Working Holiday permit previously.
Match tickets, holiday schedules, concerts that we attended
Invitations to my cousin's wedding in Australia
Letters to support our application
Photocopies of every page from both passports
Copies of all the GNIB cards I have had (important).
A letter from the VHI saying that I have private health insurance and won't be relying on the HSE for medical care (important)
Pay slips from both parties

Don't forget that your partner is Irish is also applying for the leave to remain so they will do checks on him/her. They will probably reconcile both bank accounts. No doubt there is a police check in there as well to make sure that you are of good character. If you have been involved in community activities such as sport get a letter from your club. Since I got back I spoke to my previous employer and he said he will help me get back in to the company once I get my visa. You will need to show that you have at least 3000 euro in your account to support yourself and aren't relying on social welfare to survive. Remember you aren't applying for an actual visa

Another thing put it in to chronoligical order so it's easier for them to read and I put tabs on each section to show information is in it. They might not read it all as it could be sufficient. Date stamp every photograph as it's proper evidence to show the timeframe you have been together.

yeehang0088 wrote: »

Hi there,

Would we be call for interview while applying de facto visas ? Or do we both have to pick up the visas together if the application is successful ? My boyfriend is working abroad in Dubai, he will come back to Ireland every 4 weeks for couple of weeks but his jobs might end before that. I am Malaysian and my boyfriend is Irish.

There is no interview during the process. You need to be in the country to apply so he basically needs to submit all his documentation with your application, which I assume he already has done. You both have to be present at the local immigration office when you get your stamp. It's only your passport that gets stamped. It is a Stamp 4 it won't say that you are a defacto in your passport.

They might ask how long you are staying for. Coming from where you are travelling from it's best to have a return or even a ticket to the UK. They don't ask you any questions when getting the stamp as you have a letter from the GNIB to say your application has been approved. It will take over 6 weeks to get a response from them to say if you have got the visa

I wouldn't rely on your local immigration gard. Mine didn't have the foggiest about the visa. She was new to the job and only got to know about the application process because I was applying for it. You have to be coherent about your finances. If you present them with a year's worth of statements it will speed up the process. Any form of current insurance details helps

I wouldn't show any credit card statements and/or loan accounts. It will just show them that you owe money. You shouldn't have social welfare being a non national. You will obviously need foreign bank statements as you are a tourist you can't get an irish bank account.

See my post on the previous page

Hi All,

My girlfriend recently got rejected for this, but she did get permission to stay in Ireland for one year, not allowed to work. It's not ideal but will do for now.

We both have to go to the local immigration office with our passports to get hers stamped. The letter does not give any more detail, what I need to know is if an appointment is needed for this? Or do you just show up there and take a ticket and wait?

We live abroad right now so getting to Dublin is a bit of an inconveniance so I dont to show up and have information missing etc. Can anybody shed any light on if we need an appointment to meet an agent?

Thanks

TheHulk wrote: »

Hi All,

My girlfriend recently got rejected for this, but she did get permission to stay in Ireland for one year, not allowed to work. It's not ideal but will do for now.

We both have to go to the local immigration office with our passports to get hers stamped. The letter does not give any more detail, what I need to know is if an appointment is needed for this? Or do you just show up there and take a ticket and wait?

We live abroad right now so getting to Dublin is a bit of an inconveniance so I dont to show up and have information missing etc. Can anybody shed any light on if we need an appointment to meet an agent?

Thanks

You ring your local garda station and ask what day/time the immigration officer sits at. Bring your passports and any documents you have from the GNIB.

The immigration officer can pull your details of the database using GNIB number and PPS numbers.

So depending where you live in ireland, ring your local garda station, if you live in dublin i think you have to go to the GNIB office on burgh quay in person with passports.

Best thing to do is go early in the morning around 6am to queue for a ticket at burgh quay immigration office and present yourself at the counter.

vikingdub wrote: »

How did she get approval for a visa to remain in Ireland when neither of you are living in Ireland.

Well we do live in Ireland, I'm just on a short work assignment out of the country right now.

Thanks for the info.

FalconXV wrote: »

Based on your circumstances they can give you a 12 month stamp 3. They gave me one when I first go rejected. If you can save and work elsewhere that would be very useful but to sit around in Ireland for another 12 months is soul destroying.


You will need to take the letter and your partner to your local immigration Gard to get the stamp. You will have to pay 150 euro

By the way Falcon, with the 12 month stamp 3, are you free to come and go from Rep Ireland as you please? Or is it single entry? I've heard some student visas are single entry.

Thanks

Hmmmm, funny this... My own Embassy just emailed advising that the "defacto" route might actually suffice to extend my stay here...

Of course as I've said elsewhere there are very few Irish in this region... Means the Embassy has more time to dedicate per person (at least I hope).