I'm Australian and my boyfriend is Irish, we've been together almost three years and I'm trying to find a way to get residency in Ireland or pretty much any visa that will allow me to stay more than 90 days. Throughout the whole relationship we've been limited to only 3 months in each other's countries because of only qualifying for tourist visas, but now that we've been together 3 years I am pretty tired of always moving around and not having the right stay any longer despite having a genuine lasting relationship.
We've been to the Citizen's Information office in Ireland and they present a pretty bleak picture, my only options being 1) a costly student visa (I'm already doing uni in Australia and can't afford the overseas costs); 2) a work visa (I don't have any qualifications that would allow a company here to hire me over an Irish citizen); or 3) get married to make the process easier.... which would be a fairly serious commitment!
I was just wondering if anyone had been in a similar situation or knew of any alternative visas that might be lesser known? A few extra bits of info about our situation:
- I've already had a Working Holiday visa for Ireland and can't apply for another
- We can't go down the de facto visa route because there's a requirement of 2 years cohabitation but because none of our countries will let the other partner stay more than 90 days this is a bit of a catch 22 situation for us! Can't get the 2 years without a visa.... Can't get a visa without the 2 years...
- My boyfriend is over the age limit for a WH visa for Australia
- We are both musicians and have had bookings for gigs from several venues. Is there any kind of cultural or arts visa that I might be able to apply for?
- I've also heard of a 'lay volunteer' visa but have been unable to find out about any organisation that offers it or where I could apply for positions.
Basically I'm hoping to find any visa that will let me stay for 2 years so that we can live together long enough to meet the requirements for the de facto visa.
Many many thanks for reading and for any help or advice that you might be able to offer!
