IEC Habitual Residency Query

deisedelight

Hi All,

I am currently over in Canada on the 1 year USIT visa.

I am applying for the 2nd year visa through the IEC.

When filling out the application I saw a potential issue with this habitual residency.

It says on the website :
What does “3 years habitual residency requirement” mean?
This means that that a candidate’s habitual residence (i.e. physically residing/living) must be in Ireland for a period of at least three years full-time prior to applying to the IEC. An exception is made if the candidate is temporarily in a foreign country for studies or short-term work, depending on the amount of time spent outside UK.

I lived in UK for a number of years in my 20s and did not live in Ireland for full three years before coming to Canada. I,m confused with the word "prior" .
Do they mean like you must have lived in Ireland for at least 3 years of your life or directly before applying ......

Has anyone else had any issues or any experience with my query. Any help at all would be really appreciated . Cheers all.

deisedelight

any feedback ??? :-)

tenchi-fan

It probably means three years immediately before applying, although they will not usually take into account time spent holidaying (including other year-long working-holiday programmes)

The fact you already got the first visa suggests you won't have a problem getting another.

FreeAnd..

exactly...you'll be fine...I was away for the 3 years immediately proceeding my application and had the exact same worries (2 years Oz and 1 year NZ) - I put everything down and got my LOI a few months back...

myleftfoot

Best of luck, I was in Ireland for longer than FreeAnd.. and got rejected.

Saying this tho I know A LOT of people in my position who were approved. In fact I'm the only 1 I know who got rejected. I've a feeling I got some ****ing prick doing my application. :mad:

deisedelight

FreeAnd.. wrote: »

exactly...you'll be fine...I was away for the 3 years immediately proceeding my application and had the exact same worries (2 years Oz and 1 year NZ) - I put everything down and got my LOI a few months back...

cheers all for your feedback.

yeh see i was in UK for 2.5 years of the 3 years . with Oz and NZ it states that it ignores temporary visas. thats why i was concerned about putting UK down as i was nt on a temporary visa there obviously etc.

deisedelight

myleftfoot wrote: »

Best of luck, I was in Ireland for longer than FreeAnd.. and got rejected.

Saying this tho I know A LOT of people in my position who were approved. In fact I'm the only 1 I know who got rejected. I've a feeling I got some ****ing prick doing my application. :mad:

sorry to hear that myleftfoot. did they give any reason why they refused you . could you not just reapply ?

FreeAnd..

deisedelight wrote: »

cheers all for your feedback.

yeh see i was in UK for 2.5 years of the 3 years . with Oz and NZ it states that it ignores temporary visas. thats why i was concerned about putting UK down as i was nt on a temporary visa there obviously etc.

that could be a problem alright, just like myleftfoot (rough by the way - would it be worth just reapplying and see what happens?)

myleftfoot

deisedelight wrote: »

sorry to hear that myleftfoot. did they give any reason why they refused you . could you not just reapply ?

Yeah they said I didn't fulfill the Habitual Residency requirement. My application was refused not rejected so they didn't send it back out to me.

I've a feeling that if I really wanted to argue against it, get all my forms together again and re-apply I might get lucky. But I'm over it at this stage, and I've got other options (other than going back to Ireland).

Like I said, I'm the strange exception; I'm sure you'll be fine OP.

tenchi-fan

myleftfoot wrote: »

Like I said, I'm the strange exception; I'm sure you'll be fine OP.

Well, dont forget they give you plenty of space on the form to explain the peculiarities of the visa you were on.
I emphasised my time spent in Australia was on a temporary, working-holiday-marker visa, for example.

However, for someone who actually worked in the UK for 2-3 years prior to applying, they may have problems fulfilling the habitual residency requirement.

deisedelight

myleftfoot wrote: »

Yeah they said I didn't fulfill the Habitual Residency requirement. My application was refused not rejected so they didn't send it back out to me.

I've a feeling that if I really wanted to argue against it, get all my forms together again and re-apply I might get lucky. But I'm over it at this stage, and I've got other options (other than going back to Ireland).

Like I said, I'm the strange exception; I'm sure you'll be fine OP.

ah thats good mate you have options. how many years were you not in ireland before you applied and were you away on a tempory visa at the time.

deisedelight

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Well, dont forget they give you plenty of space on the form to explain the peculiarities of the visa you were on.
I emphasised my time spent in Australia was on a temporary, working-holiday-marker visa, for example.

However, for someone who actually worked in the UK for 2-3 years prior to applying, they may have problems fulfilling the habitual residency requirement.

but it dont make sense because even if i did nt meet habitual residency requirement i still could not apply under UK IEC scheme as not a citizen. from what i ve read as well working in either the UK and Ireland is part of the Common Travel Agreement so in essence there is no habitual residency. I m gonna chance it anyway and see what happens as they say. if i get refused their visa is seriously in breach of EU rules which allows free movement of workers so to discriminate would be wrong.

myleftfoot

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Well, dont forget they give you plenty of space on the form to explain the peculiarities of the visa you were on.
I emphasised my time spent in Australia was on a temporary, working-holiday-marker visa, for example.

However, for someone who actually worked in the UK for 2-3 years prior to applying, they may have problems fulfilling the habitual residency requirement.

I did that Tecnhi, I didn't forget. :rolleyes:

lennyzez

I participated in IEC in 2010 and activated it october 26th 2010. so i used it up from 26th october 2010- 25th october 2011. then i got sponsered from 21st december 2011 - 20th december 2012. so i am near 2 years in canada.

I wonder will the habitual residence rule apply to me because i have been away from ireland more than 18 months...

Does this apply to your second IEC. Even though i have been in canada. seems a bit daft?