Unlimited work permit or green gard?

[south]

Hello again.

Still waiting for my unlimited work permit.
A company, where a friend of mine works at, applied for an unlimted work permit for him while his waiting for LTR. He recently got a letter from the Dept of trade & enterprise stating that he does not quailify for a greencard as he moved to a different employer 3 years back.

I hope this is just a mistake from their side as I did excactly the same 3 years back.

So my Question, has the law changed in regards to unlimted work permits? ~Is it still available?
Surely they can't expect employers to keep on forking out hundreds of euros if the employee has been working here for more than 5 years?

[marialear]

Hi,

I got my Unlimited Work Permit when I applied for my 6th work permit last year (issued to me July/August 2006) so they were still doing them then. Granted, I've been with the same employer the whole 5 year time. I just applied for my renewal work permit as usual & they sent me the Unlimited Work Permit automatically.

Although there is no expiry date on the work permit I've got now, the GNIB still only stamped my passport till the end of this year (Dec 2007), giving me a few extra months instead of the normal 12 month stamp which I normally had to renew evey August. So, I'll have to go back & get a new registration card (100euro please) at the end of that time anyway even though my work permit has no expiry date. Dunno the point of that but I asked at the time why I had to come back if my work permit was unlimited & was just told that I had to register evey year anyway. Whatever, nothing suprises me anymore.

Good luck,
Maria

[south]

Hi Maria
Thanks for the response

I know it's all getting a bit silly.
Been waiting almost 4 months now for my work permit due to delays in the department. This is putting my LTR on hold for another 2 months.
So frustrating!!
Just out of curiosity have you applied or received LTR?

[marialear]

Yeah, I applied in August 2006. Was told at that time waiting period was about 12-14 wks, after that then told 20 wks, then 25-30 wks & now I hear the waiting time is 11 months...I'll believe it when I see it.

Sigh, seriously if I had known the red tape tangle when I first moved here in 2000, I would have gotten married immediately after landing in Dublin!

M

[pahadia]

My God...11 months waiting period now ? I was lucky then. I applied in March-April 2006 and got my LTR in less then 2 months. It was very easy procedure as well. I wonder what happen within 2-3 months that waiting period jumped from 2 to 11 months. Would it be some sort of policy change within DOJ ?

[south]

11 Months! Not suprised at all!
I believe there is just a major back log, as with all other departments dealing with immigration and work permits.

Can I ask you Pahadia
When you got your LTR was your passport stamped for the whole 5 years or do you still have to register every year?

[pahadia]

I got letter for 5 year stamping but got visa only for 3 years because my passposrt was expiring.I was advised that once I renew my passport it will get stamped for further 2 years. Now I don't have to go for stamping every year ...