Change of Immigration Status in Ireland - What You Must Know

There are some important things to consider regarding changing your immigration status in Ireland.

One of these is ensuring that you inform the Irish Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) of any changes to your personal circumstances that might affect your valid current permission.

These circumstance changes may be in any of the following categories:

• Family
• Work and study
• Time
• Other personal circumstances

Informing the ISD is essential as it will ensure that you’re on the most accurate and up-to-date type of permission or stamp that best suits your circumstances.

You must also always ensure that you seek to change your status with your local registration office before your current immigration permission expires.

Page Contents

• Overview of Changing Your Immigration Status in Ireland
• Changes in Family Circumstances
• Changes in Work and Study Circumstances
• Changes in Time Circumstances
• Changes in Other Personal Circumstances
• How Can Total Law Help?

There are a number of circumstances where you may inform the ISD of changes to your family life.

These include if you’ve become any of the following while in Ireland:

• A de facto partner of an Irish or non-EEA national
• The spouse of an Irish national
• The spouse or child of a non-EEA citizen or Irish national
• The parent of an Irish Citizen child
• An individual applying for an immigration clearance letter to bring an AAI approved foreign adopted child into the State

Applying as the de facto partner of an Irish or non-EEA national may be appropriate if you’ve been in a relationship for at least two years with an eligible sponsor.

Applying as the spouse of an Irish national may be appropriate if you’ve entered into a marriage or a civil partnership with an Irish citizen.

Applying as the spouse or child of a non-EEA citizen or Irish national may be appropriate if you’re the dependent family member of an eligible sponsor.

Applying as the parent of an Irish Citizen child may be appropriate if you’re the biological parent of an Irish child.

Applying for an immigration clearance will be appropriate if you’ve completed a foreign adoption and need permission to bring the child into Ireland.

There are a number of circumstances where you may inform the ISD of changes to your work and study situations.

These include if you need to do any of the following:

• Reactivate your employment permit
• Get permission under the Turkish Association Agreement
• Modify your student permission
• Apply for the third level graduate programme

These cover a few potential situations that may occur during your time in Ireland.

Reactivating your employment permit may be appropriate if you held a valid employment permit and you’ve now fallen out of employment through no fault of your own, you’ve been exploited or treated badly, or you wish to change employers.

Getting permission under the Turkish Association Agreement may be appropriate if you’re working in Ireland under the agreement for a certain period of time and need to upgrade your permission.

Modifying your student permission may be appropriate if you need to seek an alternative kind of permission for your current student visa, such as if you wish to take another course, or a different course to your current one.

Applying for the third level graduate programme may be appropriate if you wish to stay in Ireland for an additional 12 months after being awarded a level 8 or 9 for their degree course.

There are a number of circumstances where you may wish to inform the ISD on the basis of your time spent in the State.

These include if you wish to apply for any of the following:

• Long term residency
• Without Condition As To Time
• Irish citizenship

Applying for long term residency may be appropriate if you’ve been resident in Ireland for at least 5 years with a valid, in-date Irish residence permit and employment permit for the whole duration of that time.

Applying for Without Condition As To Time (also known as Stamp 5 permission to remain) may be appropriate if you’ve been resident in Ireland for at least 8 years.

Applying for Irish citizenship may be appropriate if you wish to become a fully naturalised Irish citizen and you comply with all of the eligibility criteria to do so.