Moving Back to Ireland After an Overstay

eiretamicha

I'm going to try to make this very long story as short as possible...here goes.

I moved to Scotland to study at the University of Aberdeen back in September of 2003. Travelled to Ireland in April of 2004 for three week's holiday. Met Aidan (my now husband) in his hometown in Co. Tyrone, visited back and forth for the remainder of my study-abroad program, but eventually moved back to Florida in June of 2004. Aidan visited me in Florida in August of 2004. We couldn't stand the separation anymore so on October 16, 2004, I flew on a return ticket to Dublin to be with my Aidan. Needless to say, I did not go home after my 90-day tourist visa was expired.

Aidan and I were engaged in February of 2005, decided we wanted to start our lives in Florida, started our US Fiance' Visa application, and in Mid-May 2005, I had to leave Ireland and my Aidan to go back home so I could find work enough to prove that I could support Aidan when he moves to America.

Insert many months of tears and huge phone bills and that brings us to November of 2005. Aidan arrives on the 8th and we're married outdoors under a giant oak tree on November 19, 2005. It was the most beautiful day of my life.

Fast forward to now and Aidan and I are seriously considering moving back to Ireland within the next year or so. We're both tired of this place, and miss Ireland very much. We're excited, and can't wait to have the funds needed to move back.

But, of course, there's that little problem of my visa overstay. Oops. Seemed like a good idea at the time. So now we're frantically phoning embassies and consulates left and right trying to figure out what the heck we're supposed to do...do I need an additional visa? Will I get turned away at Dublin airport as soon as I arrive? Can they legally turn me away since I'm married to an Irish citizen? And...can they even turn me away at all since I was technically staying in the north and not the republic?

Does anyone have any advice on this subject? We're starting to get very worried as the months pass and moving back comes closer. Anyone ever been in this predicament?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Ruu_Old

How many days did you overstay? I wouldnt be too worried about it tbh. You will need to sort out your residency permit when you get back to Ireland. When coming through Dublin your husband will be with you so it should be ok. Just tell them you are sorting it out at the moment, they MIGHT stamp a time limit on your passport (think its two weeks) so get to your local garda station with an immigration officer and sort it out. They will scribble off the limit thing off your passport and if you have the right documents (joint bank accounts would be good) you will get your residency no problems but will have to update it every year. Any more questions, just ask.

smashey

As far as I know, you would have every chance of getting an Irish Passport as your husband is Irish. Have you looked at this possibility?

eiretamicha

Ruu wrote:

How many days did you overstay? I wouldnt be too worried about it tbh. You will need to sort out your residency permit when you get back to Ireland. When coming through Dublin your husband will be with you so it should be ok. Just tell them you are sorting it out at the moment, they MIGHT stamp a time limit on your passport (think its two weeks) so get to your local garda station with an immigration officer and sort it out. They will scribble off the limit thing off your passport and if you have the right documents (joint bank accounts would be good) you will get your residency no problems but will have to update it every year. Any more questions, just ask.

I overstayed about four months.

Another problem that I forgot to mention is that we will most likely be going back for a visit before moving there in order to get residence sorted out.

And when we do move back, we might be staying with his family in the north for a few weeks before getting an address in the south.

This is so complicated.

Thank you for your response.

eiretamicha

smashey wrote:

As far as I know, you would have every chance of getting an Irish Passport as your husband is Irish. Have you looked at this possibility?

Hi Smashey,

According to the Irish Embassy in Washington, I cannot apply for Irish citizenship until I've been married to Aidan for three years. And even then, it's not a straightforward process like it used to be.

Thank you for the suggestion though.

smashey

Yeah, I thought as much. I remember a friend marrying a Singaporean in 1999 and she qualified instantly. Good luck.

eiretamicha

Just thought I'd post a quick update for those interested.

Aidan called the Department of Justice in the Republic this morning at 5:00am (10:00am over there). He talked to a very nice woman who basically said that since we're married, my overstay will most likely be forgiven. She said it would be highly unlikely for me to be turned away at Dublin airport and that all I need to do is show the immigration officials my passport and marriage license, and possibly some evidence that I was indeed staying in the north. We figured as much. :rolleyes:

Thank goodness that's taken care of!! Thanks for the responses!

Ruu_Old

Glad you are getting it sorted, let us know how it turns out for you

k974

you should have no problems if your really worried land in belfast and get the train to dublin, my ex girlfriend is an aussie she's overstayed about 3 years at this stage still using her rsi number from her original working holiday visa and coming and going as often as she wants.

no wonder there are so many iileagals and overstayers if i'd done the same in australia as she did in ireland i'd be long since banned for a number of years

AidoPotato

Eiretamicha

I wanted to fill you in on my situation. In fact, I have been browzing the net all afternoon trying to find resolution to this, hence is why I came across your post on this page.

My girlfriend is from California and is currently living with me in Ireland on her passport (that allows her 90 days). It's becoming a strain because she is not legally allowed to work here, so we decided to look into the Fiance visa. The problem there, however, is that it states that if I apply for one, we have to get married within a very short period of time.

So what I am trying to work out is just how realistic this is. I sometimes wonder do they just say that to scare people into avoiding the Fiance visa. What if I moved back to Cali with her and lived and worked there beneath the status of her Fiance ? Do you have any idea how long I could do this for.

Ps - In relation to your first post, believe me, we both know how difficult it is to obtain legal working status in Ireland. It's a joke. No company wants to look at a non EU member.

The Sweeper

Guys, as someone who's currently applying for a spouse visa for Australia, I'd have to say I really don't think embassies put time limits on de facto partner visas (e.g. fiance visas) to 'scare' people. The amount of paperwork you have to generate for a spouse visa is massive and that, in my opinion, in itself would be enough to put any jokers off!

Australia's visa application process is one of the strictest in the world, and a lot of other countries are taking leafs out of their book, which may be why it's no longer so easy. Now you have to generate a phonebook of paperwork, incur a bunch of costs, include everyone you know, and you still only get a temp visa unless you can prove you're together more than 5 years or you have kids together - if you only get a temp visa, it's valid for two years and then you do the whole process again.

I don't know if I'd trust the lady from the Department of Justice telling you they won't send you home if you've a passport and a marriage licence - did she mean they won't send you home if you've no visa? And she'll be manning the gates at the Dublin Airport customs desk, will she?

I know eiretamicha's thread is from early last year, but one thing I don't really understand is how he/she had been 'frantically phoning embassies and consulates left and right' but still not getting a straight answer on this. Or is it that the embassies had been telling you 'tough buns, stay in the US' and you were trying to find ways around it?

Seriously, Joe Bloggs of boards.ie who's flouted international visa laws isn't the person who's going to deport you if your migration paperwork isn't in order. The embassies and consulates are the people who should be telling you what the story is, and I find it hard to believe they're saying "eh, I dunno" when you phone them.

I'm sure I've seen eiretamicha posting on boards recently, so maybe he/she could come back in this thread and tell us what the upshot was and what happened...

Ruu_Old

Visa Journey is a good forum for US visa related questions as many, many people going through the exact same thing. There are categories for the different visa types.

eiretamicha

My post has been resurrected!

Aido, follow Ruu's advice and check out VisaJourney; there's no way on earth that Aidan and I would have gotten through this immigration crap without that website. As far as working while you're a fiance', well that depends on where you entered the country. If you're determined to work while still under the fiance' visa (before getting married and adjusting your status), then you'll need to arrive through JFK airport and get a temporary work permit. Honestly, in my opinion, this isn't worth it, as you'll be damn lucky if you can even find employment in a measly three months.

My advice? Get married in Ireland and live in Ireland--before her visa stamp expires. But this advice depends solely upon where the two of you want to live and raise your children. Aidan and I thought, "Oh we'll just try it out in the states, save up some money, and then go back!" Now that's a joke. Once you're here, unless you're rich/at a stable point in your life/etc., you're stuck. For a while. Aidan and I are young, both never been married before, I was only in my third year of university when I met Aidan, so no degree or anything. We're completely stuck here. We can't afford to move back...not for at least another year. If you're both very serious about getting married, just do it. Sit down with each other and talk about all the pros and cons of living in Cali or living in Ireland...this may take several weeks...but do it. Decide where you want to spend the rest of your lives, and find a legal way to live there. Don't just move somewhere for the hell of it and think it'll be super easy to move back. Once you're married, paying rent, bills, etc...moving anywhere is not as easy as you'd think.

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

I know eiretamicha's thread is from early last year, but one thing I don't really understand is how he/she had been 'frantically phoning embassies and consulates left and right' but still not getting a straight answer on this. Or is it that the embassies had been telling you 'tough buns, stay in the US' and you were trying to find ways around it?

Seriously, Joe Bloggs of boards.ie who's flouted international visa laws isn't the person who's going to deport you if your migration paperwork isn't in order. The embassies and consulates are the people who should be telling you what the story is, and I find it hard to believe they're saying "eh, I dunno" when you phone them.

Actually, that's exactly what was happening. Every single place we called (three different Irish embassies in the states, the immigration department at Dublin airport, the Irish Immigration Center in Boston) gave us the same answer...and that was basically, "I dunno. We have no rules or laws regarding what you did and the situation you're in now. Try just showing them your marriage license and passport. Good luck, and let us know how you get on." I was led around in circles and finally had to give up. There was no other information to be found.

That was months ago, and as you can see from above, we're both still in America. We can't afford to move back yet. House and rent prices are insane in both the Republic and the North (though it's about the same here in Florida, we just got lucky on renting a crap-hole that we fixed up from a friend of the family), and we're not too keen on moving back in with Aidan's Mom...As much as I love her, we're married now and very used to having our own place and privacy. But, we are going back for a visit in May...and it's a good thing that someone brought up this post again, because I had completely forgotten about my visa overstay (marriage will do that to ya! )...so now I'm back to worrying about whether or not they're going to deny me entry at the airport! I guess it's time to start calling the same places again...maybe they've invented new immigration rules since last June. Who knows? Certainly not the Irish embassies, anyway. :rolleyes: