Traveling on an expired immigration / residence permit card while waiting for renewal. Is it possible?

[overblood]

My non EU girlfriend needs to go back to her home country for a family emergency.

Her country (Brazil) does not require a visa to enter Ireland. She's currently on a stamp 2 visa.

She requested the renewal of her residence card in June. Apparently there's at least a 4 month backlog in the Cork immigration office, and the card expires tomorrow.

Is there anything that can be done to ensure that she is allowed back into the country when she comes back? She has the emails and documents etc. showing that she applied for renewal. And emails explaining the wait time. And it's a well known fact that the Cork immigration office have a desperate backlog.

Should she chance it? Or is it possible she'll be turned away? Anybody here been in this situation or has a friend / partner who was in this situation?

[littlerr]

Renewal of IRP should be done online if she lives in Cork now.
She can of course travel without a valid IRP card. It is unlikely that she would be stopped by airlines since she doesn’t require a visa to enter Ireland. Irish Border is usually lenient enough as long as she can prove she has her renewal application submitted before her current permission expires.

[overblood]

Yes she actually applied "manually" first in June. That came with a 4 month backlog. Or maybe longer.

Then we discovered she can do it online, so she applied again a few weeks ago on the online portal.

I have no idea how long the online process takes. Any idea?

And regardling travel - is there an official document she can get (other than the application receipt email) she can use to say something like "I am allowed to leave and enter Ireland" ?

She will be transiting through Amsterdam. Could they cause problems with the expired card? Maybe they won't accept the visa renewal application as proof.

[Angel99]

She can transit Nederlands or even enter the country. Brazilians don't need a visa to Nederlands for 90/180days

Regarding the expired IRP, it will be best she waits for her new residence permit. Some airlines are notorious to refuse boarding if they see the IRP has expired and she is trying to re-enter the country again on visa waiver in a short time. There is also a stamp on the passport + they might not accept any paper as proof of renewal.

[vinny]

See also Travelling on expired IRP.