An Irish visa is an immigration permission which allows a non-EEA national to travel to the Republic of Ireland in order to seek permission to enter the Irish State. A visa is not a permission to reside in the Republic of Ireland, it is simply permission to travel here.

Only persons who are citizens of visa required countries are obliged to apply for an Irish visa prior to travel. Citizens of non-visa required counties do not need to apply for a visa and simply travel to the State and seek permission to enter at the border.

Irish visas fall into 2 categories, Short Stay C visas which are granted for a duration of 90 days or less and Long Stay D visas, where a person is seeking permission to travel to Ireland for a period of longer than 90 days.

Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork have successfully navigated thousands of visa applications over the years. In recent months we have seen an increased amount of visa refusals and are being contacted on an almost daily basis by persons who have applied for an Irish visa which has been refused.

Once a person receives an Irish visa refusal, they have two months from the date of the refusal to lodge an appeal. An applicant will receive a letter from the visa office who processed their application setting out the reasons for the refusal and confirming which visa office the appeal should be submitted to.

Applicants are entitled to be given clear reasons as to why the visa has been refused to enable them to understand why but also to submit an appeal which sufficiently addresses the first instance refusal. In practice we find that it is not always clear from the refusal letter as to why the application has actually been refused.

In general visas are refused for the following reasons:

ID – Insufficient documentation submitted in support of the application.

ID – Quality of documentation.

F – Finances deemed insufficient.

PF – Cost to public funds

PR- Cost to public resources

R – Reference

RH – Relationship history

IS – Immigration status of reference

IH – Immigration history of applicant

VR – Previous visa refusal(s)

INCO – Inconsistencies in the information provided

OB – Obligations to return home not shown

OC – Observe conditions of visa

FM – Family member (no automatic right or issue with minor child non-family member

Sometimes the visa refusal letter will elaborate on the above headings, providing detailed reasons for the refusal based on the specific headings.

However, on other occasions, the visa refusal will simply list the relevant headings without providing further clarification. This can render the job of the refused applicant and their legal representative very difficult to address. The immigration team at Sinnott Solicitors are well experienced in dealing with such scenarios and successfully overturning visa refusals in these tricky cases.

The Immigration Service Delivery has a specific list of documentation on their website for each type of visa and this must be submitted in support of the visa being applied for.

In addition to this, local visa offices and embassies sometimes have additional requirements which are not listed on the ISD website so it is very important when persons are applying for visas that they satisfy themselves at the outset of the documentation required and cross reference the document lists on the ISD website and local embassy websites to ensure that the correct documentation is submitted.

Even when persons submit the required documentation and information their visa may still be refused in circumstances where the office is not satisfied with the documentation submitted, for example when a birth certificate is submitted with the date of registration of the birth taking place much later then the date of birth itself.

Failure to explain such a discrepancy may result in the visa application being refused and this is an issue which frequently arises in Middle Eastern countries, where birth certificates often issue many years after a persons date of birth as that may have been the first time that they required use of a birth certificate so there was no requirement to apply for one previously.

Other examples of refusals arise where the visa office is not satisfied with the quality of documentation submitted or where large lump sums on bank statements are not sufficiently explained.

Join spouse visa applications are frequently refused on the basis that evidence of family life submitted is deemed insufficient, evidence of routine communication between the applicant and sponsor has not been submitted, evidence of face to face meetings between the applicant and sponsor has not been submitted or a full documentary account of relationship history has not been submitted. This is an issue we repeatedly see arising in join spouse visa applications.

Another frequent problem arises where applicants attend VFS offices or consulates/embassies to submit their visa applications but the official taking the documentation refuses to take all of the documents which the applicant is trying to submit. We advise on these occasions that the applicant should contact the visa office processing their application to notify them of this occurrence and to submit separately any documentation which the embassy/consulate, VFS office official has refused to take to support their visa application.

We have frequently seen visas being refused for failure to submit documentation which the applicants have tried to submit at their appointment but have not been permitted to do so.

It is important to note that when a visa is refused the processing times of visa appeals can take up to 12 months or longer depending on which visa office is processing the appeal.

It is also important to note that when a person is refused an Irish visa that this will remain on their record and may affect future visa applications to Ireland and other countries in circumstances where they are required to disclose the previous visa refusal. We would certainly advise any person who has received an Irish visa refusal to appeal same in order to have the decision overturned. If a visa appeal is refused than on occasions there are grounds to challenge such a refusal by way of judicial review in the High Court and this is something which applicants should consider if they receive a visa appeal refusal.

The team of immigration solicitors at Sinnott Solicitors Dublin and Cork are experts on all Irish visa matters including visa applications, appeals and Judicial Reviews of visa appeal refusals. If you require assistance with an Irish visa application or visa appeal including advice on a Judicial Review of a visa appeal, do not hesitate to contact our immigration department in Cork or Dublin today on 014062862 or info@sinnott.ie.