GNIB Renewed (in post) but travelling tomorrow!

Hi folks, I hope someone may be able to answer or provide some direction on this one as its a tricky one.

TD;LR: Partner renewed GNIB, its in post and won't arrive before we leave to travel to London tomorrow. She has Irish graduate visa and UK 90 day tourist visa. Do we need to cancel trip, or will she be able to travel without card as it is renewed anyway? (She has the card number and an image of it).

My partner is a non EEA national residing in Ireland under a graduate visa. She also has a tourist visa for 90 for the UK. Her GNIB card recently expired and she had it renewed about 3 weeks ago.

The immigration office sent the card to her old address, and it was sent back to the immigration office. She went in but was told they have no updates.

When she renewed it on the 5th of November, it was posted and reached her old address on the 13th. We didn't know this until yesterday when we managed to get in touch with the old landlord and found out they tried to deliver it 3 times before sending it back. We were anxious as to where it was and why it was taking so long as they advised 10 to 15 days and we are travelling to London on the 29th (tomorrow).

We know the card is with them (as this happened last year and she eventually got a call to collect it) and we are travelling tomorrow evening to London - I guess my question is although she doesn't have the card physically, it has been renewed. Is she able to travel or will we have to cancel everything? (As we have booked a lot of stuff and I had planned to propose to her in London so I'm extremely anxious about the whole situation as well).

Thanks to anyone who may have any advice.

N.

You need to get to the nearest GNIB office and explain this to them. They might be able to provide you with a letter of some sort.

You ask the question way too late. It should have been done a week ago and you may still be able to get an emergency re-entry visa.

You can travel to the UK. That’s no problem.

Whether you can travel back to Ireland is a bit trickier. If you fly with Aer Lingus without a check-in luggage, and she departs from Heathrow, she should be fine as she won’t go through any manual checks. If she departs from another airport, there’s a chance that the airline staff may deny her from boarding if they want to check her IRP.
If she travels with Ryanair, she MUST have an IRP card or a re-entry visa. There is no way around it.

There shouldn’t be any issue entering Ireland when she gets off the plane. Just need to explain the issue to the immigration officer.

Even with aer lingus they check the Irp card at boarding gate for non Eu.

Thanks for the reply folks!

It sounds like she would have no issue going to the UK, but on return she may be refused onto the flight.

This is a strange one considering she has a visa and has lived in Ireland for the last 7 years but because this card is in the post she may be refused entry.

I'm wondering what would happen at that stage - I'm in two minds because I have forked out a lot of money on this proposal and it just seems like a waste if we don't go but I don't want her to be stuck?

They sent the GNIB to the wrong address too! My partner had changed the address and they still sent it to the wrong address which sucks. It should be back in the immigration centre but when we went earlier today the staff rudely told us its not their fault and basically to go away and email them.

N.

Refusing entry and denying boarding are two completely different things. She is unlikely to be refused entry to Ireland by the immigration because her details are in the system, but for airline staff they can rightfully deny her boarding if she doesn’t have a valid residence permit or visa.

As I said, she shouldn’t have issue travelling back if she travels by Aer Lingus or British Airways from Heathrow with no check-in luggage. She would have no contact with any staff until she boards the plane. I travelled by British Airways dozens of times and never needed to talk to anybody, not even at boarding gate. I travelled a few times with Aer Lingus and was never checked by any Aer Lingus staff either, but it seems the other member was stopped by Aer Lingus before.

Depending on how many days you will be staying and whether you will be staying in the same hotel, you might chance it by having someone else checking the mailbox on a daily basis and ship it to your hotel in London once they receive the IRP card.
Alternatively, just get a British Airways flight departing from Heathrow...