Re: Irish long term partner visa

[anonymous123456]

Hi,

I am looking to see if anyone can perhaps advise me on my specific situation.

I have recently met someone really nice online and after conversing with each other extensively, we have decided to meet each other in my country of origin (I live in a South Asian country), if everything went well, we are hoping to get married in December this year.

My partner is a permanent resident in Ireland and has recently applied for her Irish Citizenship having lived in Ireland for nearly 10 years. She is a doctor by profession and have a steady job and income.

Whilst going through the questions on the partner visa application form, I came across 2 very specific questions relating to an applicant's past immigration history.

These two questions were, if an applicant has been refused a visa to any country, and if an applicant has ever been removed or deported from any country.

The answer to both these questions is yes and here is my history;

My family and I had been a regular visitor to the UK every year since the early 80's and never once broke any laws whatsoever and always abided by our visa conditions.

in year 2001, my father after having received some severe threats to his and and his family's lives, decided to leave the country and travel to the United States to be with our family and friends until such time as these life threatening political threats fizzled out.

We had a 5 year multiple entry visa to the States.

However just as we were about to travel, 9/11 occurred and our travel plans were disturbed.

We also had a multiple entry UK visit visa and decided to travel to the UK, stay there for few weeks and then from there once the situation was better in the States, we would travel onwards.

Things however didn't quite work out as we had planned and so we were stuck in the UK in a situation, where we could neither travel back to our country of origin nor could we travel onwards to the States.

So my father decided to apply for political asylum in the UK, as I had just turned 18 at that time, my file was separated with my father being the primary applicant.

Our political asylum application was rejected by the home office and after going through various appeals, we were finally removed from the UK in year 2005.

Upon returning to my country of origin, I applied for a UK student visa as I was still studying at University when we were removed. That visa was rejected by the British high commission.

In year 2008, I applied for a student visa to study in New Zealand and was advised by my family and friends not to mention anything about my UK history for fear of the visa rejection. I naively listened to their advise and did not disclose this vital information neither in my initial New Zealand student visa application nor did I mentioned anything during my subsequent visa applications in NZ.

In 2013, I converted to Christianity and was genuinely in fear of my life and repercussions if I were to return to my country of origin and so after seeking advise from a lawyer, I applied for asylum in New Zealand and requested protection.

On the day of my asylum interview, the immigration officer took my biometrics and within a short time came back with information from the home office about my previous UK history. I tried to explain that I was naive and wrong to follow an advise from my family and friends in deciding not to declare my previous travel history to the UK and about my father's asylum application.

My asylum claim was thrown into jeopardy based on character and credibility grounds and eventually declined.

Whilst my lawyer went through the appeals process and then a ministerial intervention application, I had given my lawyer full authority to legally act on my behalf and convey any information to me in relation to my case in a timely order. Unbeknownst to me until it was too late, my ministerial appeal was declined at the end of 2015, my lawyer did not inform me of this and whilst I was at work, immigration New Zealand detained me in January 2016.

I was deported from New Zealand in 2016.

in 2017 I got married and moved to the EU to be with my EU national wife. Unfortunately things didn't quite work our between us and I returned to my country of origin in April this year, followed by a divorce in August.

Whilst I was residing in the EU, I was given a residence card based on family reunification and I returned that upon the divorce from my ex wife.

During the EU partner visa process, no questions were asked about my past immigration history.

Now that I am looking at applying for a family reunification spousal long term D visa to Ireland, I want to honestly declare all my past immigration history.

My primary concern if whether this declaration will have any negative impact on my Irish spouse visa application?

Will I be denied the long term spouse visa based on my past immigration history alone?

Assuming I do manage to secure a spousal visa to Ireland, can my past immigration history have any negative effect on my future permanent residence/Irish citizenship applications?

I suppose my partner's Irish citizenship application will not be affected by my immigration past?

My partner has recently been divorced and whilst she was previously married, her ex husband traveled on a tourist visa to meet her in Ireland. Whilst in Ireland, her ex husband extended his visit visa application to a further 3 months and so she sponsored him during that process as his wife. I have read somewhere that if a spouse has previously sponsored another person, she cannot sponsor another spouse for a period of 7 years? 

We are looking at hiring a lawyer in Ireland to represent us professionally, however before we go through this expensive option, we decided to seek advise here perhaps if we can.

Apologies for a really long post, however I felt it important to convey all information so that readers can better understand my situation and are able to answer my queries accordingly.

Many thanks and Best regards.

[joker]

ireland and the UK share immigration history so they already know Honesty really is the best and only policy.

[littlerr]

Your application will not affect your partner’s naturalisation application. Whether or not it will be delayed on purpose due to this, it would be a mystery.

And yes the same person cannot sponsor two different people for spouse visas within 7 years.

Finally, as joker and yourself both said, you have to be honest and upfront about your immigration history.

[anonymous123456]

Thank you guys for your helpful replies,

I totally agree that honesty is essential, whilst I am ashamed of concealing my history in the past in NZ, I have learnt my lessons and am wise enough now to be upfront and honest about my past, I cannot change it but I can certainly make my future better by being completely transparent.

The crunch question I suppose is whether revealing my past from UK and NZ will have any negative impact on my Irish spouse visa application? That is the key question.

[White_Pearl]

[quote=littlerr post_id=1844135 time=1572862547 user_id=199420

And yes the same person cannot sponsor two different people for spouse visas within 7 years.

[/quote]

Hi

Does the 7 year rule also apply to eu national sponsors who are already joined by spouse previously? Or only to irish citizen sponsors?

Regards

[littlerr]

The crunch question I suppose is whether revealing my past from UK and NZ will have any negative impact on my Irish spouse visa application? That is the key question.

It will negatively impact your application but it is the only way. They are going to find it out anyway if you don’t tell them, and it will only negatively impact your application even more.

Does the 7 year rule also apply to eu national sponsors who are already joined by spouse previously? Or only to irish citizen sponsors?

That’s a good question. I originally thought it was for Irish citizens but I have a colleague who is a Polish National and they rejected his second join spouse application coz the last one was within 5 years. Not sure if the decision complied with EU rules but all I am saying is that it can happen.

[White_Pearl]

Does the 7 year rule also apply to eu national sponsors who are already joined by spouse previously? Or only to irish citizen sponsors?

That’s a good question. I originally thought it was for Irish citizens but I have a colleague who is a Polish National and they rejected his second join spouse application coz the last one was within 5 years. Not sure if the decision complied with EU rules but all I am saying is that it can happen.

If that was the only reason for the rejection for your polish colleague then the rule also applies to eu citizens.

Here is the reference which i just found from the website.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Family%2 ... cument.pdf

20 Multiple applications for spousal reunification/ Polygamy

20.1 A sponsor who is joined by a spouse/partner in Ireland will, in the event
of the termination of the marriage or civil partnership (by divorce or
dissolution), be ineligible to be joined by a further spouse or partner until
a minimum 7 years have elapsed from the date of the first spousal
permission. This 7 year waiting period will also be applied where the
sponsor was him/herself granted permission to reside in Ireland as the
non-EEA spouse/partner of an EU national exercising their rights of free
movement. Where there are reasonable grounds to suggest that the
earlier marriage or partnership was one of convenience further
permissions may be refused even where the periods set out above have
been exceeded. [/b]

[White_Pearl]

this morning, I had sent an email to eu treaty to ask them the same question, here is the reply, in case somebody needs it:

Dear XXXXXX

Please be advised, the section below is set out in the family reunification
policy document which is provided for under National provisions. This is
applicable to family members of Irish nationals. The Free Movement of
Persons Regulations 2015 set out the conditions attached to permission for
family members of EU Citizens.

Best regards,