how hard is it to get a working visa for non EU citizens

valor

How difficult would it be for non EU citizens [South American] to get a working visa, without a special qualification or an employer to sponsor them? near impossible? anybody got a good source of information for this topic?

not sure if this is right forum, apologies if not

thanks

Victor

I imagine fairly impossible.

Most South Americans here (many but not all Brazilian) have a specific skill (not necessarily an academic qualification) or are language students (allowed work up to 20 hours per week). Quiet a few work in the meat processing industry, while the students tend to work in shops, restaurants, bars, retail and delivering / handing out free newspapers. http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/dublin-freesheets-herald-am-and-metro-agree-to-merge-1803807.html

Nody

What Viktor said, your only real chance would be student visa.

Otis Driftwood

Wont happen.

As a student they can only (legally) work 20 hours a week,they should be aware of this too.

none

It's been a while since I was concerned with this area but from what I remember it was getting tougher and tougher. In any case, two main sources of the official information are Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (work related questions) and Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service (migration issues). Unofficially, as mentioned before, that's pretty difficult at the moment.

tatli_lokma

its not easy at all - even as a spouse of an Irish citizen it can take up to 8 mths to be processed, so as others said unless a business can sponsor you (and they will have to prove that this job cannot be filled by the existing labour market, which will be tough) then it is not by any means easy, and definitely not a quick process.
The only people I know of recently who got it for work purposes were a couple of Pakistani guys who are employed as Halal butchers - the boss had to prove that he couldn't get the staff in the general labour market, and even then they required A LOT of proof that this was the case.

Even the big multinationals who used to sponsor people for specific languages (arabic, korean etc) are no longer sponsoring. Its not very positive news I'm afraid.

AA_12

Cincikchick wrote: »

its not easy at all - even as a spouse of an Irish citizen it can take up to 8 mths to be processed, so as others said unless a business can sponsor you (and they will have to prove that this job cannot be filled by the existing labour market, which will be tough) then it is not by any means easy, and definitely not a quick process.
The only people I know of recently who got it for work purposes were a couple of Pakistani guys who are employed as Halal butchers - the boss had to prove that he couldn't get the staff in the general labour market, and even then they required A LOT of proof that this was the case.

Even the big multinationals who used to sponsor people for specific languages (arabic, korean etc) are no longer sponsoring. Its not very positive news I'm afraid.

Hi there,

Is it true that spouse of an irish national needs to wait for 8 months to get a work permit....pls confirm..

Thanks

tatli_lokma

AA_12 wrote: »

Hi there,

Is it true that spouse of an irish national needs to wait for 8 months to get a work permit....pls confirm..

Thanks

well in our case we were waiting 5 mths, and the only reason we managed to get it sped up was because he had an offer of a job which he could not take without the stamp 4.

I know of others who were 9 mths waiting. On the application they say it can take up to 12 mths.

It depends on the method of application - if you arrived here on one type of visa, then marry here it takes longer as you are changing your current residency type to another type.
If you marry abroad and apply it is a different process again.
If you apply for a visa to come to Ireland in order to get married, then it is a different process again! (and this I believe this is the quickest method, but you are relying on them issuing you a visa in order to get married here which in itself is time consuming and not easy to get)

AA_12

Cincikchick wrote: »

well in our case we were waiting 5 mths, and the only reason we managed to get it sped up was because he had an offer of a job which he could not take without the stamp 4.

I know of others who were 9 mths waiting. On the application they say it can take up to 12 mths.

It depends on the method of application - if you arrived here on one type of visa, then marry here it takes longer as you are changing your current residency type to another type.
If you marry abroad and apply it is a different process again.
If you apply for a visa to come to Ireland in order to get married, then it is a different process again! (and this I believe this is the quickest method, but you are relying on them issuing you a visa in order to get married here which in itself is time consuming and not easy to get)

Thanks a lot for sharing....

esharknz

Cincikchick wrote: »

well in our case we were waiting 5 mths, and the only reason we managed to get it sped up was because he had an offer of a job which he could not take without the stamp 4.

I know of others who were 9 mths waiting. On the application they say it can take up to 12 mths.

It depends on the method of application - if you arrived here on one type of visa, then marry here it takes longer as you are changing your current residency type to another type.
If you marry abroad and apply it is a different process again.
If you apply for a visa to come to Ireland in order to get married, then it is a different process again! (and this I believe this is the quickest method, but you are relying on them issuing you a visa in order to get married here which in itself is time consuming and not easy to get)

Differs too depending on whether you are a visa required (ie. do you come from a country that requires a visa to visit ireland) or non-visa required. Also differs if you are illegally in Ireland.

It can be very straightforward - I just needed to go to the local garda station (outside Dublin) with my husband, both passports and a marriage certificate and was granted a stamp 4 on the spot. I'm a non-visa required national.

tatli_lokma

esharknz wrote: »

It can be very straightforward - I just needed to go to the local garda station (outside Dublin) with my husband, both passports and a marriage certificate and was granted a stamp 4 on the spot. I'm a non-visa required national.

How long ago was this? we were originally told the same thing, but when we went to apply were told that the rules had changed about 6 mths before. We applied last June, so at the start of 09 they seem to have changed things. Now all applications for spouse of an Irish national have to go to Burgh Quay to be processed - the Guards no longer do this. Even when they did, it was dependent on the Guard you got on the day - I have heard of some people getting stamp 4 there and then and others who were only given residence, no work permission. I think this is why it is now centralised though INIS and not up to individual police stations.

esharknz

Hi,

this was last year too. http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000024 suggests there are two routes, one of which describes the way I got my stamp 4. I also got 5 years, as the officer mentioned the Metock ruling and them wanting to bring the way Irish spouses were being treated into line with the way EU spouses were being treated. I was already in the country on a green card (stamp 1) so I don't know whether this had any bearing.

Wouldn't be surprised though if this has changed though, as things can change like the wind. Would be really poor though if they'd not updated the guidelines, so people would assume it's that easy, as I cannot actually find any other official government references to what happens when you want to move to Ireland with your non-EU spouse

tatli_lokma

esharknz wrote: »

Hi,

I cannot actually find any other official government references to what happens when you want to move to Ireland with your non-EU spouse

in that case you have to apply from the country you are in BEFORE arriving in Ireland. You would apply to the Irish embassy or consulate in the country you are coming from - this can be quick (matter of weeks) or can take up to 9 mths. I have heard of both happening.