HELP NEEDED - My Mexican girlfriend wants to work in Ireland

shomrockkid

Hi,

I'm irish and my girlfriend is from Mexico. She is hoping to stay in Ireland now to work. She's a software tester and has been offered a job by a company in dublin. The job is full time but with 6 months probation. We went to entemp.ie and printed off the form to be completed for the work permit. It has two options you can apply as an employee or an employer. We went for the employee option and sent in the application for the work permit.

A couple of days passed and they rang her looking for her GNIB card. She went to the Garda Immigration Bureau on Burg Quay and they told her they needed a letter from her employers before they would give her the GNIB card. Anyway she got the letter today and went back to the office. They looked at her passport and she has a visitors stamp wich says she can stay her until 21st march.

To make a long story short the guy refused to give her the GNIB card and they were quite agressive with her. He said they couldn't give her the card as she was only on a visitors stamp. She was very upset and rang me in tears......anyway!!!

So basically we seem to be stuck between the GNIB office and the Employment Office. We rang the employment office who said there is no reason why her passport shouldn't be stamped. If they refuse go to te department of justice....arggghhh such red tape.

Now we don't know what to do. I'd like to hear if anyone else has experienced anything similar or could offer some meaningful advice. I just don't. She has a skilled job offer, she wants to work and is now so downbeat. Any help would be great....

RoseBlossom

Your poor girlfriend!

What does the stamp say in her passport? What number is it? Did she tell the Immigration Officer that she was only here for a holiday when she arrived? If the purpose of her visit was a holiday (as far as the Immigration Officer was concerned) she would only have been given a stamp for that purpose. What she needs is a Stamp 1 but she won't be able to change her status while she is here as far as I know.

MIN2511

Hello there,

Them bloody immigration officers... There is no way she would be entitled to a garda card when her original purpose is to visit.
There are a few options
option1: Go to the company and tell them she needs a work visa and see they can source it for her. Some companies dont like to do this(laziness) but she should explain to them on how easy it is to process it.
option2 :she could apply to a university for a course. Go back home organise a student visa and then come back and work.

none

Actually, I've been on work permits and work visas since 2000 so I know the situation a little bit and I can tell you that it's got much worse than 8 years ago. I won't go into too much details here but one of the main problems is that work visas are discontinued. The other major issue is that GNIB/INIS/ENTEMP attitude changed drastically and instead of encouraging skilled foreigners to come here they rather force them to leave. I'm not even mentioning that if you're not here yet they do all they can to prevent you from coming in the first instance. And the landmark phrase from Bertie famously summed it all up: "Very quickly they would realise it is not a good place to come" (http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2007/0424/1177280102600.html).

Anyway, the most relevant resources to check now:
http://www.garda.ie/gnib.html
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000028
http://www.entemp.ie/sitemap/internationalworkers.htm

And, I suppose, the main section for your perusal:
http://www.entemp.ie/labour/workpermits/guidelines.htm

Keep in mind that regardless of the scheme, work permit or Green Card, you must normally earn above €30,000 in order to be eligible. And yes, student schemes are not as flexible as before and, moreover, for a full-time job it won't work as student visas imply full-time study. You can, of course, study part-time when you work full-time (I do it too). And yes, it's been always the official position that you must change your visa type abroad, e.g., from student to work visa. But unofficially, in certain cases it could be done locally.

As I said, it's quite tough now but I hope it works out:-) Good luck anyway!

shomrockkid

Thanks all for your posts. I know that immigration is really a hot topic at the moment especially as more people are on the dole now that the economy is starting to slow. From what hah been said there may be some flexibility. So I left a message with my local politician to see if there's anything that can be done. I'm not that hopeful but i'm trying to exhaust all options.

I think our best bet at this stage is to try and get the company to apply on her behalf. They have been helpful so far so you never know. Anyway her holiday visa (not certain of what the stamp is exactly) runs out on March 21st.

I have asked around here in work and some people of different non-EU nationalities are facing similar issues with spouses etc. I think the last poster is correct they are trying to make it as difficult as possible now for non-EU employees. Certainly 8 years ago they would have been much more forgiving. Anyway i'll keep the post updated as this continues. We only have a few days to sort this out before she has to return home.

shomrockkid

One further question....Does she have to apply from Mexico or can she go to London and apply from there? The simple reason is it would be much more cost effective. I have some friends in London where she could stay whilst she waits for the permit to come through.

none

Yes, you're right, it's much better when the employer applies (expense-wise too as the employers pays for the application). But I doubt one week is enough anyway. They're notorious time-wasters. With regard to London, you're right again as that's where I changed my work permit to work visa 7 years ago. Normally, they say something like "if there's no official Irish representation in your country, you can apply in another country where it's present" but you can sometimes apply in another country even if there's an Irish embassy/consulate in your home country. I'm actually a bit confused about her visa as Mexicans don't really need a visa to visit Ireland (http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/SI657of2006.pdf/Files/SI657of2006.pdf). I suppose the only restriction on her stay might be not exceeding 90 days of a continuous stay which she can easily fix by making a short trip abroad.

RoseBlossom

I think your best bet is almost to imagine she was never here and proceed the way other people do when they're getting a permit from India etc. - she should apply for the work permit from outside and have it sent to her there (could be Mexico/Spain wherever, although she will need to meet an immigration officer so it can't be Derry for example). Then when she has it she can tell the Immigration Officer that the purpose of her stay is work and show them the work permit. She should then get the correct stamp and should have no problem in GNIB. If you are living in another country you could not be expected to have a GNIB card...!