Australian wanting to work in Ireland

MarkPH

Hey all,

I posted on this forum months ago about my Australian girlfriend who moved over here and wanted to live here and what we should do. We ended up applying for residency as being a long term partner of an Irish citizen, but that is over a year behind processing so that was a waste of time. She is on a working holiday visa, and is a qualified secondary teacher. She found a teaching job and we sought about getting a permit of somesort to make it all legit and do things right. And then the problems start.

Basically we went to the local immigration officer with the intention of applying for a Wrok Permit. He said no, get a Green Card. Its the same form, just a different tick at the start. So that went in, and then when my girlfriend rang up about it, they said she has to be out of the country or it will be refused. So in a panic, she went ot London that night. A week later it was processed, and refused. Teachers cant get Green Cards, only Work Permits. I was raging to say the least. I was advised then that we should reapply for a Work Permit, but when I rang up again to find out exactly whats needed, more fun started.

Since she moved here in November, the government changed the rules in February. Before, it was possible to get a Work Permit from a Working Hoilday Visa, now they changed it and you cant do this. So our plans from the start to follow things by the rules and do things the way they were set out have made things worse because they changed the rules. We were doing everything being asked, then they changed the rules and effictively, we have no options now.

Its ridiculous tho how someone who has the relevent qualifications, went theough an interview process, was selected for a job, is in the job and enjoying it and getting on very well, and now being told she wont be able to get a Permit because they changed the rules after she arrived.

We dont know what to do at this stage. Its looking likely we will have to move out to Australia as this fcuked up country wont help us. And all the departments are shifting blame and saying its not their problem, entemp, justice, GNIB etc. Why is it so hard for someone who wants to work, has the qualifications and has a job, but then is told that because of rule changes that happened after her arrival, that we cant do anything about it. We are being punished for something that was completely out of our control.

Last year when we were setting things up, everything was fine, and we were doing things the easiest way possible, and now we are snookered and its a complete mess.

I dont know if anyone here has any suggestions, but I've written directly to Michael Martin (minister of entemp), have my local TD on it too, even wrote to Matt Cooper, as we are desperate to stay. We have everything set up for our lives here, we have planning in for a house at home and have jobs and everything set up for our future. And because of stupid changes that we couldnt be faulted for, we look like we have to give everything up and start fresh again.

Sorry for the long rant, but at this stage I dont know what to do.

Zambia

Im no help , but best of luck , rant understandable.

daiixi

New work permits are no longer being issued they are only being renewed for people who already have a work permit. This is because they're getting rid of work permits and bringing in the handier and easier to understand greencard system. Find information on the greencard system here: http://www.entemp.ie/publications/labour/2007/guidegreencards.pdf
If your girlfriend is earning over EUR60,000 then she can apply for a greencard. If she's earning less than EUR60,000 then she can only apply for a greencard in one of the approved occupations and I'm sorry to say that "teacher" is not one of them.

Does this suck for you and your girlfriend? Yes it does but it sucks for thousands of other people as well. And there are plenty of other countries that make it difficult to get a work permit too. You are not being victimised.

If you both want to be together and in Ireland so much why don't you marry? Or has she had her British visa? Her French? She could always work somewhere and you both commute to see each other each weekend until the backlog is cleared?

MarkPH

they are still giving out Work Permits, its for occupations earning over €30,000, and you need to have the labour market needs test with it to be approved. see here: http://www.entemp.ie/publications/labour/2007/guideworkpermits.pdf (applications sent on 15th October being processed today) You definately 100% still can apply for a new Work Permit (believe me, I know the work permit number off be heart at this stage!)

The greencard system is for high quality jobs and where there is a shortage of workers in Ireland. Obviously teachers dont qualify as there isnt a shortage at all.

The problem is that she is being victimised because they changed the rules after she arrived in Ireland. Before it was possible to go from the Holiday visa to a Permit, now its not. If she was arriving for the first time and applied for a Work Permit there would be no problem. But they changed the ruling so what can we do about it.

Alos, checked out about getting married, it now takes 3 months before you can do that here. Its not the backlog is the problem, its the ruling changing while someone is in the country. we would end up just going back and living in Australia. We have been in limbo for so long now and just want to settle down and get our lives on track. we had been doing fine here until all this blew up.

daiixi

So can't she leave the country after her WH Visa expires and apply for the work permit?

Anyway while I understand you're annoyed but the rules changed, thousands of other people have dealt with it so you can too.

MarkPH

daiixi wrote: »

So can't she leave the country after her WH Visa expires and apply for the work permit?

Anyway while I understand you're annoyed but the rules changed, thousands of other people have dealt with it so you can too.

I dont think you get what I am saying. Previously, on a working holiday visa, you could move from that to a work permit. now you cant. The working holiday visa is no longer in place also since December last year. If it had gone the month before it would have suited us better as it would have meant we could have got the permit like thousands others do. But Australia and a couple of others are a select few countries who had the Hol Visa. Because of the rules changes, it more or less is making it impossible to stay in employment. I know you are trying to tell me to get over it and stop whinging, but its not affecting thousands of others. I spoke to the justice department and the entemp department, and neither have come across a case similar since the rules changed in February.

she is out of the country now, but I dont think it will make a difference. Because of the set up of getting a work permit, she is probably ineligable to stay working as she had the job due to the holiday visa. YOu have to pass certain criteria, and while she does, the time elapsed since she got the job is working against her. If she was in AUstralia now and only moving ot Irleand tomorrow, there would be no problem at all, its the fact she was here on a visa which is no defunct and they have made no allowance for people in the country still on that visa.

daiixi

So you're saying the people that I work with who have working holiday visas no longer have valid visas? And the two people I know in the UK who are applying for working holiday visas won't be given one? And are you also saying that the hundreds of friends of mine and friends of friends etc who had working holidays visas last year and because of rule changes last June (I think it was) which meant they couldn't get work visas as support staff/bar staff etc weren't affected?

No, I don't understand what you're trying to say.

But I do understand that they changed the rules when the EU expanded and the economy started slowing. I also know that the government says that the country doesn't need office support staff but that my company (and many others) are crying out for decent staff with excellent English.. But that doesn't change the fact that the rules are the rules and many people will have to go home at the end of their visa.

MarkPH

no, you arent getting what I am saying. Like I said, this hasnt been a common problem that has came up in entemp yet, so the whole thing is all over the place. Anyway, doesnt look good for us so fairly much resigned to the fact that we will be leaving Ireland in the next couple of months.

MarkPH

just an update on how things have gone, amazingly the Department of entemp has given us the Permit. I had collected a lot of information and letters from departments and other places trying to show how much we were doing to try set up here and proving that all the rule changes happened after we were living here and how there was nothing we could have done to foresee the change. So thankfully we got the permit and everything is ok now (well, for the next 2 years until we have to renew it!). I was told it wouldnt get through, and it was only in cases where there was exceptional circumstances that it would happen, so luckily this was one occasion, and like I was saying earlier, it wasnt something that had arisen with them since the rule changes (well, not according to the many people I spoke to in the dept). So, we are staying in Ireland, and both really happy and thankful.

Faith

That's great to hear, Mark, glad everything worked out for the two of you.

daiixi

Congratulations and in two years time you should have no troubles (unless they change the rules!!!) as renewals are simply formalities - and ways to get more money

MarkPH

daiixi wrote: »

Congratulations and in two years time you should have no troubles (unless they change the rules!!!) as renewals are simply formalities - and ways to get more money

yeah, thats why we are delighted to get it, no more filling out huge amounts of forms and getting proof or other stuff. But as you said, unless they change the rules! which was the problem in the first place. Wouldnt suprise me one bit if they did!:rolleyes: