Visa Situation - Brazilian Partner - Cry for Help

Bevelle

Hi All,

First time poster... long term reader.

I'm in a bit of a pickle and I'd love to gain some advice and support in respects to Irish Immigration Visa Options. I'm entering the realms of desperation / fear.

My partner is Brazilian, and he is currently on a Stamp 2. Of which, he is studying English whilst working (either part time or full time depending if it's term time or summer break). Unfortunately, he is not eligible for an EU Passport (such as Germany, Italy) that he has seen his other Brazilian friends receive with ease due to sufficient evidence of ancestral routes.

Beyond this... he is a fresh graduate. After spending 5 years in University over in Brazil - he is feeling extremely undervalued and would love to utilize his passion he gained with his Civil Engineering degree. Unfortunately, we've discovered that Civil Engineering is not on the 'Critical Skills' list and is in fact part of 'Ineligible Skills'. This means that his skill is not eligible at all for an Employment Permit through sponsorship. I'm shocked how this could be... it's a valuable skill set to have... but let's leave it at that.

Likewise, in terms of partner / relationship visa... we are not eligible for this either as we have not lived together for 2 years (he is not even able to live in the country legally for 2 years as it stands).

In addition, he would love to go into a Masters but the cost of this is incredibly high in terms of upfront amount for Non-EU Citizens (20,000 euros) and this is something we just don't have.

The only option for him (that I can see) is that he renews his Stamp 2 by doing his English Course again. However, this only extends our situation for another 8 months (which still doesn't gain us 2 years of living together for the relationship visa).

However, this does not solve the wider issue... that he is feeling undervalued, under-utilized, and does not want to continue working in the hospitality sector in a part time basis. Overall, he just wants to feel useful and utilize his passion in Civil Engineering. Consequently, this is making him extremely depressed. Despite all of this, we have tried ringing recruitment agencies, applying for jobs... but ultimately no one is responding to his application (and I suspect the reasons why).

Personally, I'm at my knees and it would make me so happy to see him shine in a role that he feel's valued... and for us to not leave in fear of separating apart. Could I ask everyone.. anyone.. to please provide some extra level of advice / options / personal experiences... I would greatly appreciate your support. I love him, I don’t want to see him go.

Thanks everyone...

Caranica

Short of marrying him you've next to no options. The only way he can live and work here as a civil engineer is as your husband and even that won't be easy due to all the sham marriages there is extra scrutiny on EU citizens marrying non EU citizens from visa required countries

Bevelle

Caranica wrote: »

Short of marrying him you've next to no options. The only way he can live and work here as a civil engineer is as your husband and even that won't be easy due to all the sham marriages there is extra scrutiny on EU citizens marrying non EU citizens from visa required countries

What exactly is 'sham marriages' - are they effectively marriages of people who don't know each other at all for the purposes of a visa?

Funny thing is, we have discussed getting married in the long term future (irrespective of visa) but we don't believe in having a big wedding.. we would probably just want a small reception.. if it all. That undoubtably would raise the eyebrow's of immigration due to it being 'untraditional' - I would imagine? I would hate the fact that would we need to 'rush' this or do it quicker for that reason alone... I would really prefer to have it naturally.

Beyond this - we have also looked at options in the UK in terms of visa's, but it's almost impossible to get in as a Brazilian national...

Mrs OBumble

How's your Portuguese? Can you get a visa to work in Brazil?

GerardKeating

Bevelle wrote: »

What exactly is 'sham marriages' - are they effectively marriages of people who don't know each other at all for the purposes of a visa?

Basically yes, here is an recent example few a newspaper.

Bevelle wrote: »

Beyond this - we have also looked at options in the UK in terms of visa's, but it's almost impossible to get in as a Brazilian national...

If you married, you would have the automatic right to work in any EU country, except Ireland.

Due to the prelevant of sham marrages, the registar of marrages will require you to attend an interview when one of the party is non-EU. If you decide the marrage route, start to document your relationship.

Tow

Once you are married your married. They don't care were, once you have the paper work to back it up, so an Irish Registry Office wedding (Irish paperwork) is better than a big wedding in 'Brazil'. They probably are stricter than before, but basically once married the two of you go into GNIB, present the wedding certificate etc and he gets a Stamp 4 visa. It will be valid for a year, at which point you repeat. After a couple of years they will generally give a longer visa on renewal. I have see a full scale argument in the GNIB office, between an official and a couple who were in a sham marriage. He was Nigerian and she was Latlvian, she could not speak a word of English. It went along the lines of 'How do you expect me to believe you are married, you can't even communicate with each other'. Needless to say time passed quickly for everyone waiting that day!

Bevelle

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

How's your Portuguese? Can you get a visa to work in Brazil?

I can converse in basic words and phrases.. but no where near to the level of a conversation (it's the pronunciation that's the most difficult for me).

Surprisingly, Brazil doesn't have any relationship based visa.. short of marriage - which seems to be the theme in this thread.

We did consider moving to Brazil, but because of the lack of visa.. lack of Portuguese on my part.. and the economic instability side of it - it didn't seem viable.

GerardKeating wrote: »

Basically yes.

If you married, you would have the automatic right to work in any EU country, except Ireland.

Due to the prelevant of sham marrages, the registar of marrages will require you to attend an interview when one of the party is non-EU. If you decide the marrage route, start to document your relationship.

We have photos, thousands of text messages dating back months / years, a lease agreement (albeit less than a year) but clearly we need things like joint bank accounts, etc.

Honestly, is marriage literally the only option?

L1011

Joint bank accounts shouldn't be required; actually living together and evidence of having been together for a while suffices.

GGTrek

Bevelle wrote: »

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

How's your Portuguese? Can you get a visa to work in Brazil?

I can converse in basic words and phrases.. but no where near to the level of a conversation (it's the pronunciation that's the most difficult for me).  

Surprisingly, Brazil doesn't have any relationship based visa.. short of marriage - which seems to be the theme in this thread.

We did consider moving to Brazil, but because of the lack of visa.. lack of Portuguese on my part.. and the economic instability side of it - it didn't seem viable.

GerardKeating wrote: »

Basically yes.

If you married, you would have the automatic right to work in any EU country, except Ireland.

Due to the prelevant of sham marrages, the registar of marrages will require you to attend an interview when one of the party is non-EU. If you decide the marrage route, start to document your relationship.

We have photos, thousands of text messages dating back months / years, a lease agreement (albeit less than a year) but clearly we need things like joint bank accounts, etc.

Honestly, is marriage literally the only option?

The part about Brazil only having visa for marriage is incorrect. You can file with a stable relationship. It is very bureaucratic and time consuming but it can be done: http://www.justica.gov.br/seus-direitos/migracoes/permanencia/permanencia-definitiva-com-base-em-uniao-estavel-ao-companheiro-a-de-brasileiro-a-ou-estrangeiro-permanente-sem-distincao-de-sexo
Please ask your partner to translate and explain (my Portuguese is fluent but I honestly have very little time to explain the details)
The real problem with Brazil and most of South America today is instability and lack of opportunity if you do not have the right skills (never had work/money issues down here, but some English speakers believe they can make it by teaching English with a TEFL qualification:D). Civil Engineering is definitely not a great skill to have in Brazil at the moment, while in Ireland it should be a really great skill with the lack of construction workers (again Irish govvie is too incompetent to plan anything)