Irish Join Family visa Processing Times from Nigeria

[Zeeee]

Hi All,
I am hoping to find anyone who might have information on processing times for join family visas processed from Nigeria.
I currently live in Dublin and hold a critical skills work permit, my husband applied for a visa to join me since June this year as I only got my work permit in February.
We have been emailing the embassy in Nigeria almost every month now to see where they are at with processing times as this can not be viewed on the embassy's website. We have been getting the same response for the past three months now saying they are still processing applications received in March of this year. This is quite strange as the travel ban was only lifted at the end of May.
We are keeping up to date with current processing in other countries and there is a massive difference in the turnaround of applications in our own category. Even the Dublin office as of today is already processing applications received in September for join family visas for both category A and B. I don't understand why the case is different in Nigeria.
I have emailed the Dublin visa office but they keep referring me back to the embassy in Nigeria. This is quite frustrating for the both of us as we are not even sure of when to expect an outcome on this.
Is there anyone currently experiencing this? Or anyone with more knowledge on this matter that can give us an explanation or advice on this?
Any engagement on this would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Zeeee]

Hi All,
My husband finally got a decision on this visa about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the visa was refused. According to the refusal letter, proof of relationship history was not satisfactory (we were long distance for about two years before we got married, during these period we did not visit each other as we were both in school, however we have been in daily communication all through this time. We got married at the first opportunity I had to visit him).

Also the visa officer was not satisfied with our finances. Although I have a CSEP and earn a little over the minimum threshold required by the sponsor, yet they did not deem it sufficient.
We do not have any proof of financial dependency to attach to the applications apart from maybe Netflix and apple monthly subscriptions.
Few gifts exchanged here and there during birthdays, anniversaries etc all of these were attached to the initial application.

We have decided to appeal the decision as we do not have any other options right now.

We have asked family members and friends to provide supporting letters to proof our relationship further. We are also considering asking family members to provide a letter of financial support and also bank statements saying that they will be supporting us if required. We considered asking a member of the family to deposit some money into his account as proof of funds. However I am afraid that a lump sum deposit in his account might raise another red flag.

Can anyone based on experience or expertise please advise us on what to do. I am beyond stressed at this point and need as much guidance as possible.
@littlerr and @obie please kindly provide me with some advise if you have any.

[discover_ireland]

Hi All,
My husband finally got a decision on this visa about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the visa was refused. According to the refusal letter, proof of relationship history was not satisfactory (we were long distance for about two years before we got married, during these period we did not visit each other as we were both in school, however we have been in daily communication all through this time. We got married at the first opportunity I had to visit him).

Also the visa officer was not satisfied with our finances. Although I have a CSEP and earn a little over the minimum threshold required by the sponsor, yet they did not deem it sufficient.
We do not have any proof of financial dependency to attach to the applications apart from maybe Netflix and apple monthly subscriptions.
Few gifts exchanged here and there during birthdays, anniversaries etc all of these were attached to the initial application.

We have decided to appeal the decision as we do not have any other options right now.

We have asked family members and friends to provide supporting letters to proof our relationship further. We are also considering asking family members to provide a letter of financial support and also bank statements saying that they will be supporting us if required. We considered asking a member of the family to deposit some money into his account as proof of funds. However I am afraid that a lump sum deposit in his account might raise another red flag.

Can anyone based on experience or expertise please advise us on what to do. I am beyond stressed at this point and need as much guidance as possible.
@littlerr and @obie please kindly provide me with some advise if you have any.

Hi Zeeee,

I am not an expert on this but I am sharing a friend of mine application checklist whose application has been approved recently.

Applicant (Wife – Indian Citizen):
01. Passport Size Photographs (3 copies)
02. Colour Photocopy of all current and previous passports (All Pages)
03. Signed Visa Application Summary Sheet
04. A letter from the Wife about relationship history (e.g., how the relationship started, how and when they met, how often they visit each other before, during and after the marriage. Proof of Husband’s visit with Airline’s ticket and Boarding Pass, Husband Passport's Arrival/Departure Seal also the picture they took when they visited each other)
05. Original Birth Certificates
06. Photocopy of National ID Card
07. Bank Statements (Last 3 Years)
08. Original Marriage Certificate (Notarised)
09. Invitation acceptance letter (a letter outlining that wife accepted husband’s invitation)

Sponsor (Husband - Lives in Ireland who is an Irish Citizen):
01. Wedding and Family Photos
02. Invitation Letter to wife
03. Screenshot of Mortgage Saver & 365 Monthly Saver Account
04. Bank Statements for the last 3 years
05. Copies of Emirates/Qatar Airways Tickets & Boarding Passes & Immigration - Arrival/Departure Stamps (Last 3 years, husband visited wife for 7 times)
06. Tax Clearance Certificate
07. Income 2020 (€58,000)
08. Income 2019 (€53,000)
09. Income 2018 (€47,000)
10. Payslips from current Employer's for the last 6 months
11. Small World FS Statements (Proof Money sent to Wife's Bank Account from 2017 to 2021 through Small World FS.
12. Facebook Messenger Call Logs Screenshot (For last 3 years)

I believe the above checklist may give you an idea if anything you missed on your initial application.

[Zeeee]

Hi All,
My husband finally got a decision on this visa about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the visa was refused. According to the refusal letter, proof of relationship history was not satisfactory (we were long distance for about two years before we got married, during these period we did not visit each other as we were both in school, however we have been in daily communication all through this time. We got married at the first opportunity I had to visit him).

Also the visa officer was not satisfied with our finances. Although I have a CSEP and earn a little over the minimum threshold required by the sponsor, yet they did not deem it sufficient.
We do not have any proof of financial dependency to attach to the applications apart from maybe Netflix and apple monthly subscriptions.
Few gifts exchanged here and there during birthdays, anniversaries etc all of these were attached to the initial application.

We have decided to appeal the decision as we do not have any other options right now.

We have asked family members and friends to provide supporting letters to proof our relationship further. We are also considering asking family members to provide a letter of financial support and also bank statements saying that they will be supporting us if required. We considered asking a member of the family to deposit some money into his account as proof of funds. However I am afraid that a lump sum deposit in his account might raise another red flag.

Can anyone based on experience or expertise please advise us on what to do. I am beyond stressed at this point and need as much guidance as possible.
@littlerr and @obie please kindly provide me with some advise if you have any.

Hi Zeeee,

I am not an expert on this but I am sharing a friend of mine application checklist whose application has been approved recently.

Applicant (Wife – Indian Citizen):
01. Passport Size Photographs (3 copies)
02. Colour Photocopy of all current and previous passports (All Pages)
03. Signed Visa Application Summary Sheet
04. A letter from the Wife about relationship history (e.g., how the relationship started, how and when they met, how often they visit each other before, during and after the marriage. Proof of Husband’s visit with Airline’s ticket and Boarding Pass, Husband Passport's Arrival/Departure Seal also the picture they took when they visited each other)
05. Original Birth Certificates
06. Photocopy of National ID Card
07. Bank Statements (Last 3 Years)
08. Original Marriage Certificate (Notarised)
09. Invitation acceptance letter (a letter outlining that wife accepted husband’s invitation)

Sponsor (Husband - Lives in Ireland who is an Irish Citizen):
01. Wedding and Family Photos
02. Invitation Letter to wife
03. Screenshot of Mortgage Saver & 365 Monthly Saver Account
04. Bank Statements for the last 3 years
05. Copies of Emirates/Qatar Airways Tickets & Boarding Passes & Immigration - Arrival/Departure Stamps (Last 3 years, husband visited wife for 7 times)
06. Tax Clearance Certificate
07. Income 2020 (€58,000)
08. Income 2019 (€53,000)
09. Income 2018 (€47,000)
10. Payslips from current Employer's for the last 6 months
11. Small World FS Statements (Proof Money sent to Wife's Bank Account from 2017 to 2021 through Small World FS.
12. Facebook Messenger Call Logs Screenshot (For last 3 years)

I believe the above checklist may give you an idea if anything you missed on your initial application.

Hi,
Thank you so much for your response.

we attached similar documentations to our initial application. However, I did not include the actual flight tickets to the application, I attached all pages from my passport and there was a stamp made on the passport on the day of arrival to our home country for our wedding.

Also, there was also just one visit in our relationship history which was when we got married. I attached pictures of us and family members to the original applications. A notorised copy of our marriage certificate was also sent in with the application.

I can't think of any more documentation we may have missed out here

[littlerr]

It's very hard to speculate what is not satisfactory without knowing the full picture of your story, but let's have a try.

Regarding your history of relationship, you have pretty much summarised the reason yourself:

there was also just one visit in our relationship history which was when we got married

I know it might be common practice in certain parts of the world, but that is going to be very hard to convince a visa officer that you have not lived together before or even after the wedding.

You said you have daily communications when you were in the long-distance relationship. Have you attached them in the application? This should include *all* calls/texts with timestamps on them (you can blur out any sensitive/private text messages). When I applied for my missus's de-facto application, we printed out at least 10 or 20 pages of text messages / Facebook check-ins etc.

Regarding financial requirements, the salary itself is pretty irrelevant - you could be earning 30K and save a decent amount of money every month; you could also be earning 60K and barely save anything. It depends on where you live and how much you spend in your daily life.

There is only 1 real requirement - you need to convince the officer that your salary (which is the only recognised income for CSEP holders) can support *both you and your spouse*. Note that even though spouses are allowed to work after they come here, that potential additional salary won't be counted in your application. Only the main CSEP holder's salary can be counted. They are some simple maths questions that can be easily worked out from your bank statements and salary slips:
- (a) How much net salary do you get every month (after all deductions)?
- (b) How much is your monthly rent/loan/mortgage commitment?
- (c) How much is your spending after that (health insurance/grocery/restaurants/leisure/transport etc)?
If you add your spouse to it, you will basically need to multiply (c) by 2.
(a) - (b) - (c) x 2
If you have kids, you then need to multiply (c) by 3 or 4 or more.
If your current accommodation doesn't allow a second person, you might need to mark up (b) as well.
(a) - (b) x 1.5 - (c) x 2

What will the balance look like? Will you still have money left every month? That's what you need to convince the officer. If you cannot convince the officer that you will still have a decent amount left, you won't be able to get a spouse visa.

[Zeeee]

It's very hard to speculate what is not satisfactory without knowing the full picture of your story, but let's have a try.

Regarding your history of relationship, you have pretty much summarised the reason yourself:

there was also just one visit in our relationship history which was when we got married

I know it might be common practice in certain parts of the world, but that is going to be very hard to convince a visa officer that you have not lived together before or even after the wedding.

You said you have daily communications when you were in the long-distance relationship. Have you attached them in the application? This should include *all* calls/texts with timestamps on them (you can blur out any sensitive/private text messages). When I applied for my missus's de-facto application, we printed out at least 10 or 20 pages of text messages / Facebook check-ins etc.

Regarding financial requirements, the salary itself is pretty irrelevant - you could be earning 30K and save a decent amount of money every month; you could also be earning 60K and barely save anything. It depends on where you live and how much you spend in your daily life.

There is only 1 real requirement - you need to convince the officer that your salary (which is the only recognised income for CSEP holders) can support *both you and your spouse*. They are some simple maths questions that can be easily worked out from your bank statements and salary slips:
- (a) How much net salary do you get every month (after all deductions)?
- (b) How much is your monthly rent/loan/mortgage commitment?
- (c) How much is your spending after that (health insurance/grocery/restaurants/leisure/transport etc)?
If you add your spouse to it, you will basically need to multiply (c) by 2.
(a) - (b) - (c) x 2
If you have kids, you then need to multiply (c) by 3 or 4 or more.
If your current accommodation doesn't allow a second person, you might need to mark up (b) as well.
(a) - (b) x 1.5 - (c) x 2

What will the balance look like? Will you still have money left every month? That's what you need to convince the officer.

Hi Littlerr,
Thanks for the response.

To be honest the long distance was a major concern for us. Most of our phone and text message conversations were over facetime and imessage. Although we were able to attach all of these phone records to the application, we could not export our imesage chats. We should have taken screenshots and printed them out but we assumed that the call records were sufficient as we do more of that than texts.
We will definitely include our imessage texts in the appeal.
Also, I travelled back to Ireland like a week after our wedding ceremony. We were together during this time.

On the issue of finances, I have done the maths and I can understand why the visa officer was not satisfied. I am currently earning the minimum salary requirement, and although we do not have any kids my monthly outgoings are considerably significant. When you consider insurance etc. I also have some financial commitments which I fulfil every month.

Also, I made a mistake of getting an apartment for the both of us as my previous living conditions would not have been suitable for the both us if the visa was granted. Although this was after the application was made. I was previously living in shared accommodation and I got a letter from the landlord saying that they are aware that he would be living with me should he get a visa this was attached to the application.
I do not know if during investigation of our case, the visa officer found out about this thus leading to a refusal based on finance. Do you think we need to disclose in the appeal that we got an apartment now?

I guess I am just seeking advice now on how we can proof financial stability from my husband's end as there really isn't anything I can do to change my own current situation. Would requesting financial support letters from family members help in this case.
I am also now considering travelling back home to visit him again as we have not seen eachother in exactly a year now. Would attaching this future travel plan (Booked flight ticket)be of any good?

Also does anyone know what the processing times for appeals are?
Thank you .

[Zeeee]

It's very hard to speculate what is not satisfactory without knowing the full picture of your story, but let's have a try.

Regarding your history of relationship, you have pretty much summarised the reason yourself:

there was also just one visit in our relationship history which was when we got married

I know it might be common practice in certain parts of the world, but that is going to be very hard to convince a visa officer that you have not lived together before or even after the wedding.

You said you have daily communications when you were in the long-distance relationship. Have you attached them in the application? This should include *all* calls/texts with timestamps on them (you can blur out any sensitive/private text messages). When I applied for my missus's de-facto application, we printed out at least 10 or 20 pages of text messages / Facebook check-ins etc.

Regarding financial requirements, the salary itself is pretty irrelevant - you could be earning 30K and save a decent amount of money every month; you could also be earning 60K and barely save anything. It depends on where you live and how much you spend in your daily life.

There is only 1 real requirement - you need to convince the officer that your salary (which is the only recognised income for CSEP holders) can support *both you and your spouse*. They are some simple maths questions that can be easily worked out from your bank statements and salary slips:
- (a) How much net salary do you get every month (after all deductions)?
- (b) How much is your monthly rent/loan/mortgage commitment?
- (c) How much is your spending after that (health insurance/grocery/restaurants/leisure/transport etc)?
If you add your spouse to it, you will basically need to multiply (c) by 2.
(a) - (b) - (c) x 2
If you have kids, you then need to multiply (c) by 3 or 4 or more.
If your current accommodation doesn't allow a second person, you might need to mark up (b) as well.
(a) - (b) x 1.5 - (c) x 2

What will the balance look like? Will you still have money left every month? That's what you need to convince the officer.

Hi Littlerr,
Thanks for the response.

To be honest the long distance was a major concern for us. Most of our phone and text message conversations were over facetime and imessage. Although we were able to attach all of these phone records to the application, we could not export our imesage chats. We should have taken screenshots and printed them out but we assumed that the call records were sufficient as we do more of that than texts.
We will definitely include our imessage texts in the appeal.
Also, I travelled back to Ireland like a week after our wedding ceremony. We were together during this time.

On the issue of finances, I have done the maths and I can understand why the visa officer was not satisfied. I am currently earning the minimum salary requirement, and although we do not have any kids my monthly outgoings are considerably significant. When you consider insurance etc. I also have some financial commitments which I fulfil every month.

Also, I made a mistake of getting an apartment for the both of us as my previous living conditions would not have been suitable for the both us if the visa was granted. Although this was after the application was made. I was previously living in shared accommodation and I got a letter from the landlord saying that they are aware that he would be living with me should he get a visa this was attached to the application.
I do not know if during investigation of our case, the visa officer found out about this thus leading to a refusal based on finance. Do you think we need to disclose in the appeal that we got an apartment now?

I guess I am just seeking advice now on how we can proof financial stability from my husband's end as there really isn't anything I can do to change my own current situation. Would requesting financial support letters from family members help in this case.
I am also now considering travelling back home to visit him again as we have not seen eachother in exactly a year now. Would attaching this future travel plan (Booked flight ticket)be of any good?

Also does anyone know what the processing times for appeals are?
Thank you .

[littlerr]

I feel sorry for you but I honestly don't know how to best address the issue on the financial side. It is what it is. I've been through it when I was on minimum salary many years ago, and I was pretty sure that had I had to sponsor my partner on that salary with the level of our spending, it would definitely be rejected. Even though we have large amount of savings, it was not going to be considered as part of spouse visa applications. You might want to talk to some immigration solicitors in Nigeria to see what's the best way to sugarcoat that.

On the accommodation side, I know for Chinese applicants they rarely call the accommodation providers to validate these details, but that's not to say that it doesn't happen in other countries. Maybe it was a common practice in the embassy in Nigeria - I honestly don't know. Anyway, if you have moved your address, there is no harm mentioning that (in fact you are obliged to inform them of the new address).

[Zeeee]

I feel sorry for you but I honestly don't know how to best address the issue on the financial side. It is what it is. I've been through it when I was on minimum salary many years ago, and I was pretty sure that had I had to sponsor my partner on that salary with the level of our spending, it would definitely be rejected. Even though we have large amount of savings, it was not going to be considered as part of spouse visa applications. You might want to talk to some immigration solicitors in Nigeria to see what's the best way to sugarcoat that.

On the accommodation side, I know for Chinese applicants they rarely call the accommodation providers to validate these details, but that's not to say that it doesn't happen in other countries. Maybe it was a common practice in the embassy in Nigeria - I honestly don't know. Anyway, if you have moved your address, there is no harm mentioning that (in fact you are obliged to inform them of the new address).

Thanks Littlerr.

On the accommodation issue, I am sure they did not contact my previous landlord because i am still friends and in constant communication with them.

In terms of finances what would you consider as a decent balance left per month. Because despite my monthly outgoings I still have what i think should be more than enough for two. And if we are appealing his decision, do I still need to send recent bank statements and payslips even though nothing has improved from my own end of things.

Also, if you think there is little to no hope, can you think of any other options, we have considered applying for a study visa for him but giving this refusal we doubt that it would be successful.
Thank you.

[littlerr]

I don't suppose there is a fixed value. As long as your salary/spending makes reasonable sense for two people, visa officers are usually fine with them.

What I'd suggest is that you should do the maths for them. Give them a few new payslips and bank statements. Write a cover letter. Lay out how much you earn every month, how much you spend on monthly commitment and grocery on average, and just tell them that if you add a second person, how much you will get and how much you will have left.

I'm not an immigration lawyer and I don't deal with visas too much these days, so I honestly can't give you an answer. Yes study visa is an alternative but previous visa refusals are always a big problem, although in the case of a study visa, your financial conditions become irrelevant - it would be to prove that he has sufficient funds to cover his study with his and your existing savings (rather than depending on how much you earn every month), and that he has genuine interest to study in that area. Study permissions usually cannot be converted to spousal permissions until after the student is graduated.

[Zeeee]

I don't suppose there is a fixed value. As long as your salary/spending makes reasonable sense for two people, visa officers are usually fine with them.

What I'd suggest is that you should do the maths for them. Give them a few new payslips and bank statements. Write a cover letter. Lay out how much you earn every month, how much you spend on monthly commitment and grocery on average, and just tell them that if you add a second person, how much you will get and how much you will have left.

I'm not an immigration lawyer and I don't deal with visas too much these days, so I honestly can't give you an answer. Yes study visa is an alternative but previous visa refusals are always a big problem, although in the case of a study visa, your financial conditions become irrelevant - it would be to prove that he has sufficient funds to cover his study with his and your existing savings (rather than depending on how much you earn every month), and that he has genuine interest to study in that area. Study permissions usually cannot be converted to spousal permissions until after the student is graduated.

Hi Littlerr,
Thank you so much for all your insight. I did not realize that our situation is far more complicated than i thought. We have consulted with an immigration lawyer here in Ireland and he is pretty confident that an appeal might be successful.
Like you said it is what it is, we will do our best to fight this and hope for the best outcome.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I will be back if I need anymore guidance on this.
Warm wishes.

[Finepaddy]

Hi All,
My husband finally got a decision on this visa about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the visa was refused. According to the refusal letter, proof of relationship history was not satisfactory (we were long distance for about two years before we got married, during these period we did not visit each other as we were both in school, however we have been in daily communication all through this time. We got married at the first opportunity I had to visit him).

Also the visa officer was not satisfied with our finances. Although I have a CSEP and earn a little over the minimum threshold required by the sponsor, yet they did not deem it sufficient.
We do not have any proof of financial dependency to attach to the applications apart from maybe Netflix and apple monthly subscriptions.
Few gifts exchanged here and there during birthdays, anniversaries etc all of these were attached to the initial application.

We have decided to appeal the decision as we do not have any other options right now.

We have asked family members and friends to provide supporting letters to proof our relationship further. We are also considering asking family members to provide a letter of financial support and also bank statements saying that they will be supporting us if required. We considered asking a member of the family to deposit some money into his account as proof of funds. However I am afraid that a lump sum deposit in his account might raise another red flag.

Can anyone based on experience or expertise please advise us on what to do. I am beyond stressed at this point and need as much guidance as possible.
@littlerr and @obie please kindly provide me with some advise if you have any.

As I understand I m not sure before your marriage time period was during Covid or not but if it is then u can say During covid and lockdowns u couldn't visit him as there was restriction from Gov.
Second finance, if u meet the requirement of finance for CSEP I don't see the point why they raise finance issue. Maybe something in your expenses thay have issues but normally if u met the financial requirement then I doesn't matter anything else.
For certain countries they have "special" rules so u have to wait for decision on maximum time period.
Anyway it's debatable that u always hear shortage of staff in all gov departments specially in ISD but still they are really politically motivated to give 20000 people legal status.

Certain countries like Pakistan, Nigeria have special treatment, rules and policy to deal such applicants.
They will tell u to contact embassy but for long term visa nearly all applications are dealt by from Dublin office in same aspect. So I wouldn't say only embassy get involve during visa application.

[Finepaddy]

Sorry forget to mention in same cases new application decision is quicker then appeals and u can explain and provide all the details that why u didn't appeal so if time is not a problem I will go with appeal otherwise u can always make new application and address the refusal points in new application.