When seeking immigration advice in Ireland, Sinnott immigration Solicitors and consultants have noticed many common mistakes that applicants make in submitting their Irish visa and immigration applications to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration delivery service.

Whether you wish to make an application for a Visa to join a spouse, partner or family member in Ireland, an EU residence card application, an Irish Citizenship application, a de facto residency application or an application for an employment permit, there are certain common mistakes made by applicants when submitting their applications. The mistakes which we point out further down in this article are very frequently the initial basis for refusal for many applications. When applications are refused for these reasons, it then becomes necessary for applicants to make a written appeal or a request for a review within a certain time frame which otherwise may not have been required.

Common Mistakes in making Irish Immigration Applications

When providing Immigration advice, the most common mistakes that we come across  when applicants submit their own application are as follows:

Proof of Dependency

This type of proof is required in making an application for an EU Residence Card and many other types of visa and Irish Immigration Applications. Applicants are sometimes not aware of the level of detail required to prove dependency on another. For example, it is not enough to submit bank statements that show money transfers to the dependent. It is essential that each and every proof of dependency is submitted.  A synopsis of the provision of the day to day living expenditure to  the dependent should be included with every application.  Dependents must show that it would not be possible to the dependent to financially support themselves in their day to day living if it were not for the financial assistance of the provider.

A vast level of detail is required such as detail of rent paid, provision of clothing, food accommodation and general living expenditure provided. That means that every single document to prove dependency is required to be submitted such as receipt for the provision of payment for accommodation, rent agreements, mortgage statements, bank statements, details of money transfers to the dependent, educational expenditure, utility bills, proof of payment for those utility bills and all documentation to show the level of expenditure of the provider in order to meet the Dependent’s day to day living requirements.

Proof of Relationship

Many Irish visa applications and other Irish immigration applications are refused at first instance because INIS are not satisfied that the applicant has proved their relationship. In order to do that, it is absolutely essential to set out a details relationship history of the parties together with a detailed timeline of the relationship such as where they met, when they met, how the relationship developed to where the relationship is now.  This should be accompanied by social media chat history, text messages, WhatsApp chat history, photographs, travel tickets to demonstrate holidays and trips together, photographs of family occasions and every single piece of information to hand to show that the relationship is genuine and subsisting.

When advising our clients on this requirement, Sinnott Immigration Solicitors have often come across situations where applicants are not aware that that level of detail was required in making their application and situations where applicants are simply not comfortable to disclose their relationship history in such intimate detail. However unfortunately, that is exactly the level of detail required. When providing immigration advice to applicants in these situations, the more detail submitted, the better. It makes it easier for the decision maker to immediately identify the relationship as a genuine one if the proper documentation is submitted.

Disclosure of Previous convictions

The disclosure of previous convictions often catches applicants out. If a citizenship application is refused for this reason, the applicant is then right back to square one and it flows from that that the entire application must be made again and the waiting time will begin once more. It is now standard practice to submit a Police clearance certificate as part of a Citizenship application. The Irish Courts have also concluded that not only does a citizenship applicant have to disclose previous convictions but the applicant  must also disclose “spent convictions” and the Minister is entitled to have regard to what would otherwise be “spent convictions” in considering good character for citizenship applications. This is an important  observation to be noted by applicants who are applying for citizenship and mistakenly believe that “spent convictions” are not of relevance to their application.

Proof of Finances

If we had one Euro for every application that has been refused on the basis that Finances have not been adequately proved, the Immigration consultants at Sinnott Solicitors in Dublin and in Cork could quite comfortably retire by now (not that we would want to of course)!

In order to prove adequate finances, it is not just necessary for the applicant to submit Bank Statements. An entire financial portfolio should be shown here. When proving finances, the objective is to meet the criteria of the Department of Justice to demonstrate that the applicant will not become a burden to the State. To ensure that you do not fall foul of the “Proof of Finances” requirement, an applicant or the applicants sponsor must show bank statements, each and every source of income, payslips, contracts of employment, tax documentation showing the income received, health insurance, pensions, savings  and every piece of documentation that will prove that finances are adequate for the application to succeed.

In making Irish visa applications or any other Irish Immigration application, many applicants are not aware of the level of detail required to prove dependency, adequate finances and their relationships with the person whom they wish to join in Ireland. As Immigration Consultants, we believe that if the above mistakes could be avoided by the applicant in the initial application, it would probably reduce the amount of refusal by 50%!.

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork Refusal Review survey

We recently carried out a brief survey of all Immigration application refusals and visa refusals that our Immigration consultants in Dublin and Cork had been instructed to appeal by our clients. When we discovered the number of applications that had been refused at first instance for the above reasons, we felt compelled to highlight this matter. From our own research and the survey that we carried out, we are confident that over half of the refusals could have been avoided by the applicants had they been aware of this information. Our best immigration advice to those applicants who wish to make an Irish visa application or any other type of Irish immigration application to Ireland would be to provide the detail set out above.

At Sinnott Solicitors we understand that many applicants do not have the funds to hire an immigration consultant or Immigration Lawyer in Ireland when making an application. If you are one of those people reading this article, we hope that the above information is helpful to you.

If your visa application or other type of immigration application for Ireland is refused, then please feel free to contact Sinnott Solicitors where our Immigration consultants Dublin or our immigration consultants Cork would be happy to provide you with the appropriate immigration advice regarding any visa appeal or any request for a review of the refusal which may be necessary. You can contact our offices at +353 1 406 2862 or by email at .