Toluwanile wrote:There is someone I know who came in with a
visitor's visa over 1 year ago and has overstayed with a view to working out a way to stay here in Ireland in some shape, manner or form
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
. This person has sought my opinion in confidence as to how to become a documented / legal resident and I have given the following advise in response to the ideas the person shared with me (not that I am an immigration lawyer or close to one). The following are the ideas the person has;
1. To get married to someone who has a legal stay in Ireland.
Though I'm not sure but I told the person that the court will require that they file an application and that both of them should be legally resident in Ireland
That marriage would really need to be with an EU Citizen, not from Ireland. Maybe an Irish Citizen, if the person does not have a deportation order, but the former would be the safest. Either way, the relationship has to be genuine and you need to provide evidence of same. Moreover, with Irish, it may take a while compared to 6 months for EU .
Toluwanile wrote:
2.This person has also considered seeking asylum, but I submitted that since the person came in with a visa and had the finger print taken, there is actually not a chance of that as well.
In a way, it is not the fact that he had a visa or finger prints taken that affects his asylum case, it is the fact that he has delayed over 1 year in doing so. Unless, he could make an argument that there are now severe problems in his country that would lead people like him to persecution.
Toluwanile wrote:
3.This person has also considered engaging the services of a lawyer, but I'll like to believe that lawyers will / might say that she's abused the terms of the visa and thereby expose the person.
Instead of thinking what you would like or what you might say, you should only advise as to what you actually know. Any lawyer has a client - solicitor confidentiality. It would not be in the solicitor's interest to "expose" some one, not would it be in the interest to accuse them of something or in orders words, point out the truth, that is, your friend has abused the terms of the visa and should never have been given one. If people like here did not do that, then these lawyers would not have a job.
Your friend will be no more exposed to appropriate procedures after making some sort of application with a solicitor than if she made it herself.
Toluwanile wrote:
People I want to throw this open to those who know more than myself as I know next to nothing about immigration law and do not want to appear as a kill joy to this person.
You have to tell people the truth and be frank, not tell them what they would like to know, even if it is utterly wrong. What you have suggested are useful, and very few people, bar what Monife has said could advise otherwise.