Visiting UK from Ireland

[Zulqarnain]

Hi everyone,

I have got a stamp 2 student visa and have just arrived Ireland on 7th Nov.

I like to plan ahead of things and dont want to leave things to the last minute. I also wanted to go see my brother, sister and other family in UK on this Christmas and make a visit to UK for a week.

However, my recent arrival in Ireland and making a new UK standard visitor application straight away may not go well with Immigration Officer's mind? Or is it ok to apply for it and my recent arrival in Ireland will not have any influence to my UK visiting visa application?

Also, will I be making a standard visitor visa application to visit UK for a week ? Or is there any other visa type?

Please note that I do not have a bank account or family ties in Ireland because I am new here, I just have a full time post graduate course studies commitment in Ireland, will that be enough to prove that I will return to Ireland after my UK trip comes to an end (within a week?

Many thanks.

[littlerr]

No, don't do it.

Have you got your IRP? I don't think you will be able to get an IRP before January. You will not be able to travel back to Ireland without an IRP.
Also, without an IRP, your visa will not even be accepted at TLS (which is the contractor for UK visas in Ireland).

[Zulqarnain]

Is it just because I don't have IRP yet or do you think my recent arrival in Ireland will have a negative influence on my application?

[littlerr]

TLScontact will not accept your application without an IRP, leaving alone transferring it to the UKVI section for it to be reviewed.

You will also not be allowed to re-enter Ireland if you don't have the IRP card.

If in the unlikely event that you managed somehow to obtain an IRP card before Christmas, you can in theory submit your application. You need to submit the previous 6 months' bank statements for it. It doesn't have to be from Ireland though, but you certainly need to explain the reason for lack of transactions in Ireland and your motivation and intention for visiting the UK in the current situation.

[littlerr]

Finally just to add onto this, you are legally not allowed to leave your accommodation for the next 11 days except for brief exercises, and you are legally not allowed to travel beyond 5km for non-essential reasons until 1 December.

Since you are in Waterford, the chance that you will be able to travel to Santry without being caught is quite low. You will be fined 500 euro for the first-time offence and if you leave a record like this, you might be saying goodbye to a UK visa forever.

The best theoretical chance you have is to get your IRP card before 1 December, complete the online visa application before that, and book an appointment for the first week of December in TLScontact to submit your biometrics. That way, you *may* have a tiny chance of receiving your visa before Christmas (subjecting to a swift approval with sufficient financial documents and reasons/motivations for visiting the UK).