Ireland De-Facto Visa

MJPS wrote: »

Hey all,
My girlfriend (Non-EU) and I (Irish) applied in mid September 2017, however we collected our evidences based on one year co-habitation, and it was only subsequent to submitting that we realised the rules had changed back to two years co-habitation. 
Does anyone know if our application will be considered strictly on the two year rule, or will we be given any leeway because our application went in just after this decision was made?
Thanks in advance!

As far as I know, the 2 year cohabitation rule has always been there, so your application could be tricky.

MJPS wrote: »

Okay, well thankfully we haven't been rejected yet! Like I said I spoke with them last week and they said they are assessing applications from August, so fingers crosses you'll hear back soon!

Out of interest, did you have proof of two year co-habitation?

No, I've applied under the one year rule. We had just completed one year by that time. We have 18 months of cohabitation now.

Hi guys,

Just to keep you updated, my partner and I had the permission granted early this week!

We applied in the very beggining of August, received a letter with the application number a week later, and then on the 3rd of January received another letter asking for updated bank statements, bills and private health insurance.

Then, after waiting long 4 weeks, we got the visa!

It went quite smoothly, beside the long wait and all the work putting everything together. I also would like yous to know that the fact we've been living with my partner's parent didn't affect our application.

I wish the best of luck for yous all!

allenae wrote: »

My main question is, if the application period is about 6 months, what is my immigration status while we wait? Can I get an extension on my visa in that time?

Get your application in when you have reached 2 years. When you have your application number it is a case of arranging an appointment to get a Stamp 3 which will cover you to be here legally while the application is being processed. You cannot work under this.

allenae wrote: »

My understanding of the third level graduate scheme visa is they only extend it for the second year if I've tried to apply for a work permit and been rejected.

Where did you see this? Unless this is a recent change it is not the case.

allenae wrote: »

Is waiting for the de facto application a reason for them to extend the third level graduate visa?

No, they will not extend your graduate visa just because you have an application in.

allenae wrote: »

I should probably try and talk to a lawyer. But I don't feel like I need help the whole time, just a conversation to answer some questions. As someone who has never hired a lawyer before, can you get a small consultation like that for not too much money? I wouldn't even know where to begin finding someone trustworthy.

You really don't need a lawyer for any of this. All laid out pretty clearly on the INIS website.

allenae wrote: »

Edit: I saw someone said that you can apply for an extension based on the fact that you're waiting to hear but that it's unlikely. What do you think our chances are if we apply in April, which would put us at living together for 20 months and being in a relationship for 34 months, and still giving me 6 months on my current visa to wait on their answer?

As above, it won't be an extension you'll be applying for it will be a Stamp 3 and they grant these for the period of time that they feel will cover the time it will take for the application to be processed.

There are a good few posters on here who have gone through it recently. Suggest you look over this thread in detail and if you have any questions just ask.

i would recommend that you get in touch with the INIS De Facto office directly in writing and ask for an extension stamp 3. We are in a similar situation and got an email reply about this. It states that when my partner's visa expires she should apply in writing to de facto unit for an extension.

I have emailed them again to clarify whether or not she should apply after her visa expires or a couple of weeks before it expires.

the firstemail was worded as follows;

If her permission will expire whilst her
application is being processed she may apply for a temporary Stamp 3. She
can apply to De Facto Partnership, Residence Division - Unit 5, INIS, P.O.
Box 12695, Dublin 2.

So, here's our update for anyone who's interested: my girlfriend got approved last week for De Facto Permission to remain in Ireland: it’s stamp 4, so we’re chuffed!

Background on relationship: I’m Irish and my gf is Argentinian. We lived together in Argentina between mid-2014 and early 2016. Then we moved to Ireland and have lived together here since, with my gf on an English student visa which she renewed the maximum 3 times (last one just recently expired). Anyway, that's four years uninterrupted cohabitation - 2 years is required, but it is difficult to prove in our situation.

1. We applied in 2016 and received a rejection letter straight away within about a month. The letter said our relationship wasn’t considered "akin to marriage". I think it was because we were living with my parent. This rule seems to have been changed now and rightly so, with the housing situation in Ireland. When we figured this out we decided to re-apply.

2. Sent a new application the first week of November, 2017. A week later we received a letter confirming that they received the application. Our application included the relevant de facto application form signed by local peace commissioner and witnesses etc. You can get details for your local peace commissioner from your garda station and he will stamp your application without charging you as a solicitor would. We included proof of relationship since 2014. We sent everything we could think of: photos, bank statements from our individual bank accounts showing transactions between us, credit card bills, flight tickets from trips we took together, international money transfer receipts with addresses, medical insurance certs, copies of passports showing all valid visa stamps, letters from my gf’s English school confirming her address in Ireland. The idea is to prove you have been living together for two years so all correspondence would obviously have shown my address and her address as the same, at the same dates. Also, in Ireland it took ages for my GF to get approved for bank accounts and to get name on utility bills and stuff, so a lot of the most concrete evidence we originally submitted was from 2017. Nonetheless, we did what we could to show that we lived together between 2014 and 2016. I had a feeling that they would ask for more stuff, but it was important to initiate the application as soon as we could.

3. It takes them about 6 months to process this initial application. We got a letter back at the beginning of May asking for further documentation i.e. most recent 6 months bank statements, updated medical insurance, 6 months payslips from Irish partner, police clearance cert. They gave us 2 weeks to get this stuff back to them – stress! Sent it all in.


4. Got ANOTHER letter 2 weeks later asking for more stuff – more stress! The police clearance cert we had sent was more than 6 months old and our medical insurance was just about to expire, so we needed to send new ones. They also asked us for more proof that we were living together in 2015. Apparently we didn’t provide sufficient proof in November, but this was weird because they didn't ask for such things in the letter 2 weeks earlier. This time they only gave us only 7 days to submit the requested documents. Thank god Argentina allows for quick access to police clearance certs online so we got this straight away. We had to do some digging for proof that we were living together in 2015 and found some old tax certs with my girlfriend’s address on them and some language institute registration certs with my address from Argentina (this was a shared address obviously). I also contacted my university and asked them to provide a letter stating that I was living at this shared address during 2015 and 2016 as I had been doing university related stuff in Argentina. Thankfully, the university were happy to provide this.

5. Received a letter a week after submitting this round of documentation saying that were were approved - the relief!

6. Rang local Garda station to make an appointment and went up this morning to show our letter of approval, passports, and copy of medical insurance. Garda took copies of everything and told us that it would take about 2 weeks to get my gf’s new INIS identity card, at which stage he will also stamp her passport presumably. We paid 300 euros, which was not very enjoyable but beats deportation !

Other stuff:
My gf's visa expired a couple of weeks ago and we asked for a temporary visa while she was waiting on a final response from INIS. One of the email responses we got back form INIS asked us to apply in writing to the de facto office. We sent this letter and never heard anything back. I then emailed them again and they said she could not apply. So, the rules for this are very unclear to me. I then contacted our local Garda station to explain that current visa had expired and we were expecting an answer within a week and they were very understanding.

Also, you must be living together minimum 2 years by the date you submit your original application. They won't take into account the 6 months your application has been in their office waiting to be examined.

If anyone is thinking about applying in the future I would advise to get as much stuff as possible in both names and KEEP EVERYTHING (thank jaysis my gf is a hoarder) utility bills, gym memberships, tax certs, payslips, etc., etc. , etc. Joint tenancy agreements are very valuable forms of evidence too.

Hopefully this helps anyone thinking of applying.

Have you asked can he be granted a Stamp 3 while your application is being processed?