Where to Submit the Visa Application

Hi All,

I am a British citizen and working in Ireland since January 2014. My mother is widow and dependent on me. She is in UK these days on family visitors visa. I want to exercise my EU citizen rights to take her to Ireland with me. Which Irish Consulate the application should be submitted - London or Karachi?

I suspect the London embassy will return the application saying that she should apply in Karachi embassy and the Karachi embassy may say that she needs to be in Pakistan when she submit the application.

Please advise how should I proceed with the application process.

Thanks

Well, for the UK, the EEA family permit can be applied for in any country where there is a UK visa issuing station. If I were you, I would call the Irish Embassy in London or email the EEA Treaty Rights section at INIS (eutreatyrights@justice.ie) and tell them that you know that the visa can be submitted anywhere and that there's no requirement to be resident. See what they say!

I don't think there is a convenient email address for the Irish Embassy in London so you will probably have to use that stupidly expensive phone number on their website.

Alternatively, she could get on a ferry or flight to Northern Ireland and then you could travel south to the Republic of Ireland. However, I'm not sure what would happen when you get there! Again, you would need to seek info from INIS. Unfortunately, the Irish process is more complex than the UK one.

Remember to consult the new 'rules' issued by the UK authorities about Surinder Singh issued in January 2014 re: centre of life requirements.

I spoke to one of the solicitors and they confirmed with department of justice in Dublin about where to submit the application? They said if the applicant is on a short term visa in the UK, then the application must be submitted to Karachi Consulate.

So, applying from UK doesn't seem to be an option. If we adopt ferry or Belfast route then what would be the status of my wife's ILR. Currently, she holds ILR and can apply for citizenship in UK after three years. But if she enters Ireland through Ferry what would be the effect on her ILR or future citizenship application?

Thanks

I would appreciate if someone can give opinion on this.