VFS Checklist for Ireland Visa

Submitting your study application – these can be submitted 4 months in advance of the course start date

August/September Intake: Masters/Post graduate must be submitted before the end of July, unless you have received a late offer from the Education Provider. Undergraduate applications availing of the Approval in Principal Scheme can be submitted 4 months in advance of the course start date. Where later offers have issued to students from Education Providers on Undergraduate courses, these can be submitted 3 weeks before the course start date. You must provide evidence of the late offer and when the course starts. For all other students applying to study in Ireland at any other time of the year the application can be submitted 4 months in advance of the course date and must be submitted 3 weeks before the course start date. The Visa Office cannot guarantee to process any study application in time for the course registration if it received in the Visa Office 4 weeks before the course start date.

3 week rule

Student applications received in the Visa Office less than 3 weeks prior to the course start date (not extension date) will be returned unprocessed. Note it could take 2/3 working days for VFS to deliver the application to the Visa Office. The onus is on each applicant to ensure this timeframe is met, no exceptions will be made.

English Language Test

• The submission of an approved English language test is compulsory for all student visas. Failure to submit a test will result in your application being refused - the Visa Officer has no discretion on this requirement. Click on English Test for further information.
• Educational Institutions in Ireland cannot waive this requirement for the purpose of a visa application.

Approval in Principal Scheme (AIP)

The Approval in Principal scheme will only operate for students who are enrolling on an undergraduate degree course and are awaiting to receive their school results in late July/early August. Students enrolling on a post graduate Masters course can no longer apply under the Approval in Principal Scheme. If you are awaiting your final results from your university in late July/August, you can apply for an Irish Visa and submit the provisional results to the Visa Office, along with all the required documentation as listed on the checklist and the Supplementary Student Form. A decision will be made based on these documents. The Visa Office may put your application on hold and request a copy of the final results before issuing the visa. You must ensure that you have a copy of your final results with you when you arrive in Ireland and register on the course.

Under the Approval in Principal scheme, applicants applying for a study visa from India and Sri Lanka, and who have been accepted on to a College, University, Institute of Technology or QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland) approved course at undergraduate level, can apply for a study visa without having to pay the full requisite college fees in advance. They must pay €6000 towards the cost of the fees when applying under the Approval in Principal Scheme and pay the remainder when they submit their final results and their confirmed letter of offer. You can submit your application three months in advance of the course start date. The Visa Office will consider your application and inform you if it can be approved in principal. Once you have received your final results from your school and informed the Education Provider in Ireland, you must submit the final results, the updated letter of offer/acknowledgement letter from the Irish Education Provider and a copy of the Electronic Transfer Fee (EFT) showing that you have paid the full fees. The Visa Office will then issue the visa.

Payment of Fees

Full fees are expected to be paid by all other students when they make their visa application. Please check with your Education Provider when the full fee has to be paid. If the Education Provider requires the full fee to be paid before you apply for your Irish visa, the Visa Office will need to see evidence that the full fee has been paid. In all other cases, where the full fee is expected to be paid by the time you enroll on the course, the Visa Officer will only assess study applications where a student has paid at least €6000 towards their fee if it is under €12000. If less than €6000 has been paid in these cases the visa application will be refused. If the fee is more than €12000, the student must pay at least half of the total fee amount or the visa application will be refused. If you are receiving a scholarship for part of the fee, the amount to be paid before the visa application can be considered is 50% of the gross amount, unless the scholarship awarded is more than half of the tuition fee.

Appeals

Please be aware that should a visa application be refused within the advised processing times, there is no guarantee that any appeal will be processed in time for a course start date. Get your application right first time, and get it in early. For example, if you send your application in only 4-5 weeks before a course start date and are refused, it is unlikely your appeal will be dealt with in time to attend your course. Communication For enquires please go to the Contact Us Section on the Embassy website and choose Study Visas from the drop down menu.

Visa Results Update

Visa results are posted on our website https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/india/visas/applying-for-irish-visa/ every Tuesday and Friday.

Finances

• You must provide evidence of Deposits, registration and tuition fees already paid and evidence of the sources of funds used to pay them.
• You must provide evidence that you have access to sufficient funds to cover your full tuition fees and sufficient funds to support yourself in Ireland for the duration of your studies. The sources of all funds must be accounted for. Do not depend on sources of income from any part time employment you may get in Ireland while you are a student there.
• If you are using Fixed Deposits (FDs) or similar products, the source of funds used to purchase/invest must be disclosed.
• By far the most common reason for refusals is that the applicant didn’t adequately demonstrate sufficient access to the required funds or the source of the funds already used.
• Student loans – Full original documentation must be submitted. The sanction letter is not sufficient. Copy of deeds of any property used as security MUST be submitted. Where the source of funds is the sale of an asset (e.g., house or land) full evidence MUST be submitted. Any guarantor on the loan MUST BE TREATED AS A SPONSOR and their details must be included on the Student Supplementary form. If their details are not included on this form, this could result in your application being refused. The principle amount loaned to the applicant must be consistent with the availability to be repaid based on existing income levels. Future income levels cannot be considered for the availability to repay the loan.
• Anyone offering material support to your application is considered a sponsor and MUST be included on your Supplementary Form. This includes details about your parents whether they are your sponsors or not. You MUST include proof of their ID, employment status, address, etc., and evidence of your relationship/link to them. You MUST provide evidence of their income (ITRs and payslips) and savings (bank statements, etc.,). Original FDs etc., MUST be submitted. You cannot say you are self-funded if any financial support comes from elsewhere. They MUST be accounted for as a sponsor.
• One of the main conditions for a visa to be granted is that the applicant must have paid at least €6000 in tuition fees if the fees are less than €12000, with evidence that there are sufficient finances to cover the remaining fees. If the fees are more than €12000 you must pay half of the total fee to be paid before you apply for the study visa. Study bonds, such as ‘EduBond’ and ‘Pay to Study’ are acceptable as long as the source of funds used to pay for them is accounted for.

Third Level Graduate Programme

Notice regarding Revised Immigration arrangements for the Third Level Graduate Programme

The notice below outlines the new immigration arrangements which will apply to all non-EEA persons holding Student Permission (Stamp 2), who wish to avail of the Third Level Graduate Programme from 31 May 2017 onwards. You are advised to familiarise yourself with the immigration arrangements for the Third Level Graduate Programme. The details of the revised programme are set out in the policy document which can be accessed here (http://inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Student%20Pathway). Graduates wishing to avail of the scheme are advised to read this document in detail. Persons qualifying for graduate immigration permission of up to 12 months & 24 months Graduates with an award at Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications will be granted a twelve month permission to a maximum of seven years' student permission overall. (i.e. time spent on Stamp 2 as a student and on Stamp 1G under this programme cannot exceed an aggregate time of seven years in total). Graduates with an award at Level 9 or above who qualify for the Programme will be granted permission for twenty-four months to a maximum of eight years’ student permission overall (i.e. time spent on Stamp 2 as a student and on Stamp 1G under this programme cannot exceed an aggregate time of eight years in total). NOTE: Post Study Pathways are not available to Language and Non-Degree Programme Students