Visa Processing Time after Critical Skills Work Permit

Hi Friends,

I hope you are staying safe and healthy.

Background:
My Ireland CSWP application is in progress. My prospective employer in Ireland is a trusted partner. I am currently based in Singapore. I am not a Singaporean so I will need visa to travel to Ireland.

Situation:
The next step will be to obtain visa to travel to Ireland. I called Irish embassy in Singapore to inquire about visa process and timeline. I also sent them an email. The lady responded that it will take 4-6 weeks to obtain Irish visa after application. This 4-6 weeks time is too much as my employer wants me to start ASAP.

Questions:
1. Why would they take 4-6 weeks after CSWP has been approved? Other embassies in Singapore are very quick. For example I got my US B1/B2 visa with 5 years validity in 1 day.

2. What exactly do they do in these 4-6 weeks? Do they do any background checks etc?

3. Are there any chances of visa rejection even after CSWP approval?

4. I need to give appropriate notice to my current employer. Is it safe to resign after CSWP approval? I wouldn't have time to serve two months notice after visa as the new employer will push to join ASAP (max two weeks after visa approval).

5. I need to give appropriate notice to my landlord. Is it safe to give terminate notice to landlord after CSWP approval? I wouldn't have time to serve two months notice after visa as the new employer will push to join ASAP (max two weeks after visa approval).

6. With Covid19, the visa load is very low. Why would they take 4-6 weeks with such minimal number for applications?

Looking forward to your detailed responses to help me take appropriate decisions. Thanks.

You are mistaken short term visit visas for long term visas.

A B1/B2 visa is called a non-immigrant visa in the US (similar to Type C or Short Stay visas in Europe) and is approved or rejected at the time of the interview.

An employment visa is an immigrant visa in the US (Type D or Long Stay in Europe). It of course takes longer to process. Whether you need a visa or not, and the processing time, depends on your own country’s political relation with the visa issuing country, among a few other factors such as embassy capacity and volume of applications. A US work visa takes a similar amount of time.

To answer your questions:

1. See above.

2. Background checks, criminal checks, biometric checks, previous immigration and travel history, risk assessment on whether you will likely become a burden to the state etc.

3. Yes. The issuance of a CSEP is based on the offer you received. It does not take into consideration whether you are of a good character. (E.g. DBEI would not check whether you have committed an offence elsewhere or whether you have overstayed your visa elsewhere. They only check whether the offer is genuine and whether you have the qualification to work in this profession. The visa office will check all of above.)

4 & 5: No. See above for reasons.

6. You are talking about the exact opposite of the situation. Almost all EU countries’ immigration offices are extremely busy and there is a huge backlog. If they say 4-6 weeks, I would allow for 8 weeks for the visa to be issued.

Visa load is NOT very low at all, it is extremely busy and with a reduced workforce.

Lots of people get refused a Visa after getting a permit. The decisions are not linked. Also people don't make a proper application because they think that its a formality, and get refused because of it.