I am hoping to move to Ireland (Galway, actually) by the beginning of next year, and I was wondering if any of you are US citizens working in Ireland with a work visa. I don't know of anyone who is, and I would like to hear from someone who has gone through the process and is now in Ireland (or if you know of someone who has). Any info. would be helpful.

Thanks.
Beth

I want to move to Ireland when I get older, but my parents say I couldn't work there beacuse I'm not a citizen and I have no claim to citizenship. :(

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/finding_a_job_when_you_ move_to_ireland.html

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/finding_a_job_when_you_ move_to_ireland.html.ga

quote:

If you are a non-EEA national, you should contact your nearest Irish embassy or Consulate to enquire whether you need a work authorisation or working visa for Ireland. Your Irish embassy will also be able to advise on whether you will require a travel visa for Ireland also.

quote:

Más náisiunach neamh-LEE tú, ba chóir duit dul i dteagmháil leis an ambasáid nó leis an gConsalacht Éireannach is gaire duit chun a fhiosrú an dteastaíonn údarú oibre nó víosa oibre uait d'Éirinn. Beidh d'ambasáid Éireannach in ann comhairle a thabhairt duit an dteastóidh víosa taistil uait freisin d'Éirinn.

The funny thing is that Americans are given strictures on work here, yet criminals from Russia are allowed to organise gun and kidnapping and drug crime etc just because of the liberal dogma that America = bad, foreigners =good, especially if they are non-contributing foreigners, like Albanians and Russians

What are you saying?

Robert, that is utter and offensive nonsense.

The only "Russians" working here who don't have work visas are russian speakers from the baltic states.

And the criminals here are mostly home grown.

I'm saying that Americans are not given the same lee-way to visit here, yet are a positve influence, while due to the current dogma that poor people from foreign states are harmless (which is patronising and racist) people from Eastern Europe, and yes Russian and Albanians, but also EU member states, have formed gangs involing drugs.

I'm not making it up, nor am I saying it is wholesale, but organised crime is going on here and under the auspices of the liberal agenda which seeks to look the other way.

The same anti-immigrant diatribe is often spoken here in the U.S. by various unsavory politicians and their minions in the corporate controlled press. Gimme a break!

I couldn't agree more!

How boorish -A makes a statement "Foreign gangs have set up operations in ireland", the believed reality of which is juxtaposed to the believed reality of citizens of a friendly nation been treated with offical suspecion.

B responds with a 'rubric' -disregard from thousands of miles away what may be going on somewhere by throwing in a pattern 'that one often sees' X Y Z.

Foreign gangs can and do work here as there is no one to stop them. They are complimented by the irish population who desires their produce (drugs, guns, underage girls, prostitutes).

They have fitted in neatly to system where crime and corruption pay, from the top down. So like, do you think I think they are sullying Irish morality or something?

A Roibeáird,

Ar léigh tú an méid a scríobh Beth: "I am hoping to move to Ireland (Galway, actually) by the beginning of next year, and I was wondering if any of you are US citizens working in Ireland with a work visa. I don't know of anyone who is, and I would like to hear from someone who has gone through the process and is now in Ireland (or if you know of someone who has). Any info. would be helpful.

An bhfuil tú in ann cabhrú leis an mbean seo? Ní dócha go bhfuil spéis dá laghad aici i do chuid cacamais. Muna bhfuil rud fiúntach nó ciallmhar le rá agat, 'is binn béal ina thost'.

Beth, a chara, getting a work visa is a PAIN. Definitely try, but you have to be ready for a lot of work and bureaucracy.

I'm an American who lived in Ireland, first on a special student-exchange work visa, then on a work visa, then on a student visa, then TRIED (and failed) to get a work visa again.

There are three easy ways in the door:
1. If you are very lucky, you have an Irish grandma or grandda. In this case, you can file for citizneship.
2. If you've just graduated from college, you can do sort of "student exchange" work visas, where you pay an organization money and get a blanket visa to be able to work there for four months. That being said, it's only four months, and it's technically non-renewable.
3. I think they do special fast-tracking of work visas for people who are nurses or IT professionals.

Then there's the hard way. At least last year, the process for getting a work visa was something like the following:
1. Apply to a bunch of jobs and find a company that says they'll hire you. (It's the *company* that gets the work visa for you--you can't do it as an individual. You get a work visa for a specific position at a specific company, not just to work in Ireland.)
2. The company has to file the paperwork. This is the problem. The paperwork has to more or less prove that you are more qualified than everyone else in Ireland/The E.U. The company has to post the vacancy listing on FAFSA (a government employment site) for a month (or maybe two) before they can even file the paperwork with the department of justice. This is to prove that they've tried to hire an Irish/E.U. national. Then it takes another 6-8 weeks for the department of justice to process the paperwork.

There's some info from the dept of justice here:
http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21A5/vWeb/pcJUSQ65WHUV-en

So the problem is, you have to find a company who's willing to file the papers, pay the fees, and hold the position for you for about 3 months. It's a huge hassle and hard to convince the company, but I don't think it's impossible.

The easiest way to get to live in Ireland for a while is to enroll in a course as a student. I believe you can work up to 20 hours a week on a student visa (though do check on this, it may have changed since I left a year ago). Not ideal for saving money, but it's been the way a lot of people have experienced Ireland.

I know this is an exteremely long post, but I *definitely* think you're better off having all of this information before you start looking (I definitely did *not*).

Beth, Ireland is a wonderful place to live: you should go for it, and good luck to you. ODwyer, don't you give up either! :)

(Message edited by julia on June 01, 2006)

Ok, Ok. Táim ag stopadh anois. Ní scríobhfaidh mé aon phíosa eile sa snáth sin.

Beth,
my apology for messing your thread and been so bad mannered. Sometimes I gets rowdy; young bucks buckleppin!

Beth, a chara,

The references and links which Aonghus has provided will give you all the information you need to process an application to work in Ireland. Please ignore all the extraneous 'cacamas' (bullshit) kindly provided by other users of this site.

Julia's experience and knowledge are valuable resources. So now that we know how difficult it is for
Americans to go work in Ireland, does anyone know how it is in comparison for Irish to get permission to work in the US. Just curious.

Beir bua

Probably pretty easy, considering all the Hispoanics who find work here. But that's a whole different subject, completely unaffliated with Gaeilge. *Justice for immigrants!* I don't think it's all that hard; America is built on immigrants. My neighbors include German, Spanish, and Japanese families, and a Dutch family, but they moved back to The Netherlands.

Getting a LEGAL work visa in USA is PAIN IN THE ASS. And if you think that it is more difficult to work in Ireland as American - then you are plainly wrong.

Haven't you read all those stories that Microsoft having recruited top-notch software developpers in India couldn't get work permits for them? Even having American visa doesn't guarantee anything - the Homeland Security guys can stop you at the airport, even with valid papers.

Still, millions of Mexican narcotraffickers don't have any problems entering US territory, living there and buying pretentious mansions. It is maybe that America is more interested in illegal migrants. The queues for interview at US embassy to get visa reach 6 months. So it is obvious that legal migration is frowned upon.

Robert:

Check the map - both Albania and Russia are NOT EU countries, so though gangs (not only in Ireland - aks poor Spaniards and Italians about their operations there) operate freely it does not mean that those people entered EU legally. If you didn't know the strait between Italy and Albania is some 40 km wide, so you can reach easily in the night by simple rowing boat.

very true Roman!
and they shout "viva la raza"
and demand rights for criminals!
It is a sad day when the
criminals tell the law abiding
citizens what to do!

Cén bhaint atá ag an méid seo leis an nGaeilge?

it is possible that different countries have different procedures for visas in the US. I could see people having a hard time coming from india but ireland, france, uk etc being a different set of requirements.

again, not knowing that first hand...but having an understanding of the way my gov't operates as well as some friends who came from other countries (including india and ireland) and are now living here

Antaine,

You are mixing up different things. COMING is easy both for Americans to EU and vice versa. But having working permit/visa is something completely different. There are NO exceptions nor "fast-track" procedures. Europeans in America have the same problems as Indians.

fair enough. I thought that if coming had different rules it would not be unreasonable to expect that other procedures might as well.

but like i said, 'twas only supposition on my part.

Scríobh Julia:

quote:

There are three easy ways in the door:

There's another way, at least for those who are still single...... marry an Irish person! :)

quote:

There's another way, at least for those who are still single...... marry an Irish person! :)

I'm full-blood Irish and I'm single... give me a price I might consider : )

What happens though it you get it annulled, or if you divorce?

Student of Irish's suggestion sounds great to me, I'd not complain. No objections coming from me.

Beir bua agus beannacht

A Fhear na mbróg, sílim go bheidh avatar agat anseo, agus ansin, is feidir le na mna óga praghas ceart a tairg, nach ea? :)

I'm sure I didn't get the construction of verbs correct above, but Fáilte Roimh Cheartúcháin

Student of...,

I think vocative is "A Fhir na mBróg"

go bheidh = go mbeidh?

le na= leis na
na mna = na mná


FRC

A Róman,

Thanks so much for your help; it's truly appreciated. I knew I had "go..." and "le..." wrong, but I couldn't figure it out. Now I think I have a handle on them.

dá mbeadh
a thairgeadh

A Aonghuis,

Go raibh maith agat freisin. I was trying to say "I think that you should have an avatar here..."

So it looks like I wrote "You will have an avatar here." So, I missed the "should" part. As a student, I'm thinking that "dá mbeadh" means "would" but does it also me "should?"

ba cheart go mbeadh

silím dá mbeadh	I think that if you had
silím go mba cheart go mbeadh	I think you ought to have

WE love giving Visas to FOREIGNERS as long as they are wealthy and bribe our Politicos. "Our Dear Leader " not Kim Jung Ill but Charles J Hayghey and his Lackeys gave passports to "Corrupt Wealthy Arabs back in the 1980s" for " contributions" to the "Irish State" i.e into the pockets of people in power. OUr country is still "Rotten to the Core" and as long as people have money and enough to eat , everything is "all rosy in the garden".The country is still having tribunals into corruption into planning and re-zoning land in Dublin but I am much afraid that it is still going on and the tenctacles have not reached the rest of the country.I am sure The crookedness has/is not just confined to Dublin but I am sure it touched the whole country.
Money talks and we are just as crooked/corrupt as everyone else.We cannot change unless we elect a radical /untainted set of leaders who have the bottle to " do the right thing" and not worry about getting the "popular/populist vote" at election time.

true, but unelected officials can't get much of the "right thing" done. like in the US, the problem lies less with officials who won't "do the right thing" and more with the people who won't vote for those who do.

politicians will do whatever will get them reelected. if "doing the right thing" doesn't bring them votes we have to look at ourselves as a people for the answers.

and among many other things, that has a lot to do with the political situation of the language...

(Message edited by antaine on June 12, 2006)

And where do you find those who will do the right thing? You live in New Jersey and you believe in honest pols? When white blackbirds fly over Trenton.

You can count on it, politicians will be corrupt. They say whatever will get them more votes and do whatever the people who funded their campaign want so they'll get more money from those next time around. This is how most politicians are around the world.

Hello, I was just reading through and catching up on the thread...when I wanted to make a comment about the "marriage option." I can not speak for Ireland because I am from the United States, however, I know that for most countries...just being maried to someone does not exactly grant you citizenship to a nation.

My wife is Russian, and before anyone asks...no, she was not a mail order bride...but when we got married the US only gave her a temporary visa which would give her plenty time to go through the process and become a citizen like everyone else. While it allowed her more freedom than most imigrants are given, it was still a six year process for us. In fact, there are times when I think she has more of a right to be here than I do...she earned it the hard way...and I do mean the hard way. I was just born here. Anyone who is thinking of applying for citizenship in another country be warned, it is a very bumpy road and not for the faint of heart.

I know every country is different, but most are pretty similar when it comes to imigration.

Riona is right.
I remember when I was staying in Italy the man of the house was complaining about corrupt politicians. He said that nothing had changed since the Romans. It was funny and true but let's not use that as an excuse for apathy. There is a difference between a little bribery and nepotism and the complete decline of democracy, abuse of human rights and other atrocious acts which many governments perpetuate. Yes, things are the same everywhere but here in the U.S., while we still have a smidgen of democracy left we should always strive for improvement.

quote:

many governments perpetuate

?? perpetrate?

Cén bhaint atá an méid seo leis an nGaeilge?

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/migration_and_citizenship/becoming_an_iri sh_citizen_through_marriage.html

Agus droch Ghaeilge faraor sa leagan seo:

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/migration_and_citizenship/becoming_an_iri sh_citizen_through_marriage.html.ga

quote:

Más náisiúnach neamhÉireannach tú atá pósta le saoránach Éireannach, b'fhéidir go mbeidh tú i dteideal éirí i do shaoránach Éireannach trí dearbhú faoi shaoránacht iar-phósta a dhéanamh.

"And where do you find those who will do the right thing?"

i believe you will find those tho will "do the right thing" in areas where their constituents will only vote for them if they do (and on any issue, these are exceedingly few and far between).

a politician can "do the right thing" but they will never do it *because* it's the right thing. they will do whatever will get them votes.

if they think doing X will get them re-elected then they will do X, whether X is right, wrong or indifferent...

let's assume for the moment that strengthening the standing of the irish language is "doing the right thing." now, if the politicians believe (due to the voting trends of their constituents) that failing to visibly stand on the side of the language, vote in favor of positive legislation and using it themselves in the Dáil and on tv will cause their people to vote them out of office no ifs, ands or buts - you would be amazed at the huge swell of support and enthusiasm for the language on the part of the politicians you'd see all of a sudden.

they follow the votes...make the votes lead them where you want them to end up. the only catch is, you need to get a majority of those on which the politician depends for votes and $$$ to do the same as you...

Polite and related to the Irish language.

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Caoimhín