Irish citizen and non Irish/non EU spouse , short holiday to Ireland

[Lee2521]

I wanted to find out if the process for my wife to visit Ireland with me , is any easier if travelling with myself or are all the required documents and procedures are all the same regardless ?
I do know we need to apply online via AVIATS system and apply for a short tourist visa .

Please help if you can and thanks in avance .

Lee

[littlerr]

Short term visit visa (Type C Visit) requirements are the same, regardless of whether you accompany her or not. In most countries she needs to apply for her application online and schedule for an appointment with the local embassy or the visa centre to take all the documents and biometrics.

[Lee2521]

Short term visit visa (Type C Visit) requirements are the same, regardless of whether you accompany her or not. In most countries she needs to apply for her application online and schedule for an appointment with the local embassy or the visa centre to take all the documents and biometrics.

Thanks for your reply,
I couldn't believe that every passport and visa needs to be photocopied plus applicant has to send every passport old and new held by the applicant to Ireland or a embassy/visa Centre.

[littlerr]

Short term visit visa (Type C Visit) requirements are the same, regardless of whether you accompany her or not. In most countries she needs to apply for her application online and schedule for an appointment with the local embassy or the visa centre to take all the documents and biometrics.

Thanks for your reply,
I couldn't believe that every passport and visa needs to be photocopied plus applicant has to send every passport old and new held by the applicant to Ireland or a embassy/visa Centre.

That is what I had to do for the last 20 years of my life Even just for a weekend drive away with my friends from Dublin to Belfast, I need to pay > 100 euro and photocopy every page of all my passports and submit my application at least a month in advance. I also needed to document every single trip I had within the last ten years as part of the application.

Some countries have started to use online applications and eased the requirement a bit now, but it’s still a pain in the a** when you need to travel a lot.

[kalyna]

You should check inis website or contact visa office first to find out if visa is required for your spouse. It can depend on where your spouse reside, what kind of documents she holds etc. If she needs a visa it is usually pretty straightforward process and it is free for family members of EU citizens. As long as I am aware (but you need to check if it is still the case as conditions can change) there are 2 types of tourist visa for non-EU family members - one specifies that non-EU person will be accompanied by their EU family member (this visa will only be valid if you travel together), another allows them to travel on their own. There are different requirements for documents to be submitted depending on which option you are going to go for. It can take 2-3 weeks for visa to be issued. Also you should check the Irish short stay visa waiver programme, which allows to visit Ireland with the UK visa and other way round. Good luck.

[Lee2521]

Short term visit visa (Type C Visit) requirements are the same, regardless of whether you accompany her or not. In most countries she needs to apply for her application online and schedule for an appointment with the local embassy or the visa centre to take all the documents and biometrics.

Thanks for your reply,
I couldn't believe that every passport and visa needs to be photocopied plus applicant has to send every passport old and new held by the applicant to Ireland or a embassy/visa Centre.

That is what I had to do for the last 20 years of my life Even just for a weekend drive away with my friends from Dublin to Belfast, I need to pay > 100 euro and photocopy every page of all my passports and submit my application at least a month in advance. I also needed to document every single trip I had within the last ten years as part of the application.

Some countries have started to use online applications and eased the requirement a bit now, but it’s still a pain in the a** when you need to travel a lot.

We would be OK flying/sailing to Belfast because my wife has PR in the UK but no good for the Republic and I guess if that's what we need to do then we have to do it. I'm a Irish national and I will be traveling with my wife and I have done the Avats application to test it out but didn't submit it, thinking about going in October so need to apply June or July this year.

[Lee2521]

You should check inis website or contact visa office first to find out if visa is required for your spouse. It can depend on where your spouse reside, what kind of documents she holds etc. If she needs a visa it is usually pretty straightforward process and it is free for family members of EU citizens. As long as I am aware (but you need to check if it is still the case as conditions can change) there are 2 types of tourist visa for non-EU family members - one specifies that non-EU person will be accompanied by their EU family member (this visa will only be valid if you travel together), another allows them to travel on their own. There are different requirements for documents to be submitted depending on which option you are going to go for. It can take 2-3 weeks for visa to be issued. Also you should check the Irish short stay visa waiver programme, which allows to visit Ireland with the UK visa and other way round. Good luck.

So my wife has PR in UK and I know you have to apply online first through the AVATS system and we will be travelling together so the Short stay visa (C Type) travelling with EU family member and I seen you need go through VFS Global to give in your application and biometrics. I will e-mail the DFA or Irish embassy London just to check full requirements for spouse of Irish citizen/family member

[littlerr]

Well if your wife requires a visa to enter Ireland, she would just have to apply for that. Whether she has a PR in the UK or not is irrelevant.

The only exception is: If you were exercising EU Treaty in the UK, she might be able to travel to Ireland without a visa. Did she obtain her PR based on you (Irish husband) or on her own (e.g. employment / investment etc)?

Many people would say that they had travelled from the Great Britain to Northern Ireland and then drive to Republic of Ireland. There is no border checks. That’s true. I have travelled dozens of times now between NI and Rep. of Ireland and was never stopped once. But if in the unlikely event that she is stopped by immigration, the consequences won’t look good.

[Lee2521]

Well if your wife requires a visa to enter Ireland, she would just have to apply for that. Whether she has a PR in the UK or not is irrelevant.

The only exception is: If you were exercising EU Treaty in the UK, she might be able to travel to Ireland without a visa. Did she obtain her PR based on you (Irish husband) or on her own (e.g. employment / investment etc)?

Many people would say that they had travelled from the Great Britain to Northern Ireland and then drive to Republic of Ireland. There is no border checks. That’s true. I have travelled dozens of times now between NI and Rep. of Ireland and was never stopped once. But if in the unlikely event that she is stopped by immigration, the consequences won’t look good.

I know having PR in the UK is for residency in the UK only, I was just saying that it's no problem to visit Ulster but not the other 26 counties of the Republic.

My wife obtained PR through myself being a British citizen too and my wife will have to go through visa process but I am trying to make sure we don't miss anything plus is there a easier route being a family member.

[Lee2521]

I don't want to chance it with my wife travelling into the Republic from the North, too risky going by coach and I read about a lady whom was a resident in GB but was flying to Dublin and then was meant to get a connecting flight but didn't get on because the lady didn't have a transit visa and was detained all day eventually put on a flight back to GB.
I couldn't put my wife through that

[littlerr]

Yeah I fully agree. Good luck with the visa. Tourism visas are normally fairly quick and they won’t give her any hard time.

[Lee2521]

Yeah I fully agree. Good luck with the visa. Tourism visas are normally fairly quick and they won’t give her any hard time.

Thank you and I'll keep you posted,
Just to ask have you had to use the VFS visa application centre before for Ireland for a short stay visa yet?
Or are you based in the ROI?

[littlerr]

I’m based in ROI so most of my visas are for UK. They use Teleperformance as their partner now as opposed to VFS, so unfortunately I haven’t any idea how VFS works. I don’t expect them to be any different though.

[Lee2521]

I’m based in ROI so most of my visas are for UK. They use Teleperformance as their partner now as opposed to VFS, so unfortunately I haven’t any idea how VFS works. I don’t expect them to be any different though.

I don't like using them and prefered going to the embassies but so many use VFS now and for the previous 2 schengen visas we had applied for we had to go to them and I know only France & Spain issue their own schengen visas .