Visa application transferred from Embassy to Dublin office

Dear Members,

I am a Pakistani citizen living in Bulgaria from Nov 2016 with my Bulgarian wife and my step son. I used to live in Ireland from 2007 until 2016. I got married in August 2014 and received my Stamp4 EUFAM with the validity until 2020, Anyways, we decided to permanently move to Bulgaria in November 2016 and we are happily living here. My dad is living in Ireland since 2002 and recently my mom is visiting Ireland as well. We decided to travel back to Ireland solely for tourism purposes and to see my parents. Our plan is to travel on 25th july until 31st july. We have no intention to stay for longer than 3 months, which we can easily live because my wife is self employed, freelance writer with stable financial income since 2006, but we have no intention to live. I am planning to apply as a family member of an EU citizen and accompanying with my wife for short stay visa c type. The necessay documents as far as I know is providing marriage certificate, passport/ ID photocopy, declaration or a statement to describe the reason for applying for visa. MY QUESTION is whether I should submit MINIMUM DOCUMENTAS required by the DEPARTMENT or should I submit additional documents such as bank statement, invoices to show income, communication history (whatsapp or call history, the communication is mostly about grocery list, or bulgarian words/sentences in order to communicate with the local population) etc, and TO provide further information that we are not planning to stay for llonger than 3 months. DO YOU THINK THAT additional documentation will complicate this straightforward process or it will build a strong case for swift visa approval. I will appreciate your advices and recommendations. Thank you.

Apologies for not proofreading my text. I was about to say APART FROM SUBMITTING THE MINIMAL DOCUMENTS, SHOULD I SUBMIT ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS as suggested in my previous message. Another point to indicate that I am planning to use Article 5.2, Article 6.1 and 6.2 EU DIRECTIVE 2004/EC as a reference to process my visa application. I will appreciate it if someone can respond to my query. Thank you.

Dear members,

I urgently need an opinion regarding my visa application. I applied under the category (Short Stay C Visa, accompanying with EU spouse under the article 5.1 and 5.2 together with article 6.1 and 6.2 EU Directive. I have already indicated that we are travelling solely for tourism purpose and will be staying for a week (we have mentioned in the letter that airline ticket and hotel accommodation is not booked, though, we can book it if is required to further process the application). I have contacted the local Irish embassy (Embassy of Ireland, Bulgaria). They replied and informed me that they are referring my visa application to Dublin office as the category is (accompanying with EU spouse under the directive). They told me to contact EU Treaty rights unit. The EU treaty section replied to my query and emphasized that they are not responsible to handle my visa application and directed me to contact VISA OFFICE SECTION. I have emailed them today and now waiting for their reply. I have mentioned in all the correspondence either with the embassy, EU Treaty Rights Unit and the VISA SECTION OFFICE that "the application should be processed on accelarated basis as mentioned on the website". We also have indicated that our intended travel dates are 25th july and returning back on 31st july, although, the embassy suggested that it might take 6-8 weeks to process the application and if the application is sent to Dublin, it might take longer. I really do not know what to do? This is impacting our holiday plan and schedule. Kindly let me know whether I should wait for the reply from VISA SECTION OFFICE or to contact embassy again for further clarifying the matter. Thank you.

You should have applied for a tourist visa. That would have been far much quicker. 2-3 weeks at most.

You applied for a visa under the EU Treaty rights, which means if the visa is granted, you can live in Ireland with your spouse. Residence visas are almost always referred to Dublin office and will inevitably take longer to process. Unfortunately there is no way back now. You just have to patiently wait.

Thank you for your reply. The fact is I have not applied under the category of residence visas ( I am not joining my EU spouse, I am rather accompanying her for tourist purpose and she can stay as much as she wants or officially until 3 months (but we are only staying for a week because the purpose is tourism). I have solely applied for Short-Stay Visa C Type and accompanying with EU Spouse. This is what EU Directive 2004 is all about. My Wife can travel and live in any EU country but the spouse cannot accompany her/him for any purpose. This is was the reason I used EU directive and particularly mentioned Article 6.1 and Article 6.2 (residence for less than 3 months, as it requires no physical activity to be conducted such as self employed, employee or student or self sufficient). If I was travelling alone, I could have applied for TOURIST VISA. This is so strange that an EU Spouse needs to experience hurdles and difficulties or delays in travel just because his/her spouse applied for a tourist visa or short-stay visa c type visa,. This is the main reason, people use EU Directive to clarify this stance or matter. If I needed to apply as a tourist visa, the requirement and documentations are massive ( my bank statement, my employment letter, rent agreement, bills, flights etc) why to create a hurdle for myself and for my EU spouse? I have already clarified that this is solely for tourism purpose not for residence visas.

One more important fact to clarify that even the IRISH IMMIGRATION WEBSITE provided 13 different reasons to select under the category of Short Stay C type; starting from "To take a holiday, for education purposes, to visit family friends and the last one is To accompany your EU/EEA/Swiss national family member. I selected "to accompany your EU/EEA/Swiss national family member", which is absoluately correct because I am travelling with her.

This is the following information I found from the website
"When completing your Visa Application in AVATS please select Reason for Travel – Family member of EU/EEA/Swiss cit.

You may only travel to Ireland for the purpose stated on your visa and you must satisfy the Visa Officer that you meet the criteria in order for a visa to issue"

This is what I did, so why they transferred my application to Dublin office when it was mentioned in the application summary to submit the documents to the local embassy? Even EU treaty rights are not processing my application because they are also right, they are not responsible for granting me the visa but processing the registration of permission.

As I’ve said, the visa you applied for allows people to live and work in Ireland. Almost all such visas are processed by the Dublin office. It doesn’t matter if you want to only stay for a week. The visa gives you the rights to stay in Ireland forever. It will take longer to process. Most people applying for this type of visa are looking to come to live and work in Ireland.

It doesn’t mean you selected the wrong visa type. You absolutely can select the EUTR visa because you are indeed accompanying an EU spouse. You just have to wait patiently. And if you need to visit Ireland again in future, you should select tourist visa if you don’t want this delay.

Oh okay. Thanks alot. Got it. I will wait patiently. If it takes longer than I thought, I will definitely consider your opinion to apply as a tourist (holiday) visa in the future.

Just to inform the members that my visa has been approved for short-stay (family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (Spouse). The application process took two weeks.

That’s great, and to be honest 2 weeks can be considered very quick for any type of visas!

gm1988 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:35 pm

Just to inform the members that my visa has been approved for short-stay (family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (Spouse). The application process took two weeks.

Could you please confirm what documents you submitted along with the application. Is it just passports, marriage certificate? Thanks a lot

gm1988 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:35 pm

Just to inform the members that my visa has been approved for short-stay (family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (Spouse). The application process took two weeks.

HI, I am at similar situation like you were before. I am wondering the application process took 2 weeks, is after your embassy passed to Dublin, Dublin make decision in 2 weeks? Or totally after you submit application, local embassy + Dublin totally took 2 weeks?

I applied my EU treaty right visa in Beijing Embassy on August 1st, still the status is "under processing in Dublin to make a decision".

Thank you if you can reply this post!!