Short term Irish visa for a Pakistani citizen

Clareh123

[font=arial, sans-serif]I am an Irish and living in Korea, and my boyfriend is a citizen of Pakistan, also living in Korea. We want to go to Ireland for a couple of weeks, starting around August 4th. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]We went to the embassy in Seoul with all the documentation and they told us there were a number of problems. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]1) He is a masters student in Korea and has one more year left on his course.He got a letter from his university to say he will be on the course until July 2017. However, his Korean visa expires in September, as it has to be renewed every time he progresses to the next college year. The woman at the embassy said that the visa could be rejected because of this. [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]2) He supplied 6 months of bank statements but they are in Korean, so the woman said we have to get them translated into English and notarised. The Korean bank refused to supply English statements and I have no idea how we would go about translating such a long document ourselves.[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]4) The embassy said it can take up to 8 weeks to process visas and it could take longer. She said there is no way to speed it up unless it's an emergency. [/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]So these are my questions: [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]1) Has anybody else been in a situation like this? How long did it take? Is it really first come first served or is there any way they might prioritise someone who needs the visa for a holiday ASAP versus someone coming to Ireland several months from now? [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]2) We didn't buy tickets yet because we didn't want to waste money in case the visa gets rejected. But is there any possibility that they might speed it up if we do have tickets? [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]3) Does anybody know a way to translate such long documents without hiring a translator? Is there any software that can do it? [/font]

We both have our hearts set on going to Ireland but it will be a waste of money applying for the visa if there's no chance of it getting accepted on time.

[font=arial, sans-serif]Any information is really appreciated [/font]

wintear

With the whole brexit issue and the rush for new Irish passports, I would say the whole system would be a mess at the moment.

You maybe better off finding another destination rather than trying to sort visas out. Less chance of losing money on flights due to delays in processing applications.

spurious

I think you've left it a bit late to have a visa in time.

As regards the bank statements, it's the figures they are interested in, not what he spends on, so there is no need translate every entry. They want to know has he the funds to support a holiday in Ireland.

The fact that he does not have a Korean visa yet for next year would be the thing that rings alarms for the visa folk, as effectively he has no reason to go back.

I agree with the previous poster, it might be much easier go for a holiday in a country where he does not require a visa. If you want to come to Ireland later, plan it earlier.

munchkin_utd

yea, Ive a friend from France whose parents did a legger from Iran 40 odd years ago, and when he wants to visit the cousins (who havent a hope of getting a visa for anywhere in Europe) they go somewhere that everyone can enter, which in their case then is Kazakhstan and all sorts of rare places over that side of the world. If anything its a blessing in disguise, as who'd think of going to Kazakhstan normally?

So in your case, rather than looking at the issues now as a problem, see them as an opportunity to go and see somewhere that you otherwise would never consider visiting.