Solicitor advised me to not disclose something in citizenship application

Hi All,

I recently visited a well recommended and reviewed solicitor to take advice for my citizenship application and they advised me to not disclose a significant issue I had years ago with the department of justice in a immigration matter (visa revoked). After that I sorted everything out in the best way possible and been on a critical skills stamp 1/4 path so far.

They said they would apply on my behalf a clean application and if that was raised against my character they would explain and appeal.

That's something I wasn't planning to do at all, but they are well recommended and have a great track with difficult cases.

Would anyone have any thoughts?
Thank you.

PS: I never had any conviction, never been to court. Never been in any trouble since.

Hi Jfranco,

You should never hide anything from the Justice department. I am quite surprised a reputable solicitor will advise that you don't disclose thIs information. It doesn't matter if it's a criminal record or not you have to disclose the information. Failure to do so will set you back years and it will not be the solicitor who will suffer the consequence but yourself.

I am aware of individuals who failed to disclose and years later they are still suffering.

The fact that they are advising that if it was raised they will explain and appeal is a red flag as this is something that could have been avoided if you disclosed the information first hand.

It will all come out when the Garda vetting has been conducted and there are no guarantees that the appeal process will be successful as you already failed to disclose when you had the chance to.

My advice is to disclose and if possible change from that law firm as they shouldn't be giving you that type of advise if they really want what is best for you.

Finally, I wish you all the best with your application

Having a visa revoked could mean a lot of things. Having a visa revoked and then a new one granted could mean even more things. Obviously we don’t know your full history here and won’t be able to give you a definitive answer. That is a solicitor’s job.

Visa matters are not always criminal matters. In the background section of your application, you are asked a few questions regarding your criminal history.

Question 1 (have you committed any offence) may be of some relevance but that depends on whether you have been cautioned or charged by Garda or the state when your visa was revoked. If not, then indeed it is not relevant.

You can and probably should get a second opinion from a different solicitor.

I'm just guessing but maybe this is in relation to a question where they have asked if applicant has ever committed fraud (against an individual or an org) to gain monetary or any other benefit. Department of justice might see certain things as fraud.

I know a person on a stamp 4 (based on CSEP) who applied citizenship application and his application was refused as he was told his character didn't meet the requirements due to his immigration history (marriage to get visa that was revoked and department said he had lied). This was also brought up when he had applied to get his foreign wife in Ireland. Her visa was also revoked with one of the reasons mentioning that your sponsor's immigration history weakens your case (although it was granted on appeal). He had applied before the online application was introduced and he had claimed the reckonable years that were revoked by minister. He had done so based on a supreme court judgement that said visa revocation doesn't work retrospectively (in simple words).

It would be a grey area if this is the case. Should one raise their hand and say "yes" to that question if they are in a similar situation or say no as nothing had gone to court or on Garda record etc.

Lying is a bigger problem than the actual issue. being open and honest in the declaration will atleast give a chance for hte oficers to consider the case but getting caught during checks will hurt their ego and will not be taken lightly.