Hi all,

I could really use some advice right now as i think i'm about to go crazy from this stress. Long story short i came to ireland w/ my boyfriend under a 4 month work permit. Permit expired and my employer was in the process of applying for a new one for me when my old one expired so i left Ireland for a few weeks and came back in. When i came back in the guy at immigration only gave me 2 months. In any event i found out i was rejected for a new work permit as appearently my job in accounts isn't eligible. So my boyfriend and i decided we're moving to New Zealand and i've sorted my visa for there. We're just waiting for our tickets out to arrive (we had trouble booking them because we wanted to use our Irish bank accounts and didn't have debit/credit cards)--we booked them today. Here's where my problem is the date written in regards to staying in Ireland in my passport was Sunday. I had initially booked a ticket to the UK to go visit some old friends for a week but with all the crazyness of the UK airports i decided not to go which means i've now overstayed. We're not leaving until the 1st of November but i'm stuck as to what i should do in the meantime.

I have enough money ($2k USD) to support myself and he's willing to vouch for me/pay our rent (lucky him with a UK passport) and we've been together over a year (we've got bills/bank accounts in both of our names from the last 6 months). Should i keep quiet and just stay 'til we leave? I know there's no exit immigration checks here.

I had wanted to try to apply for leave to remain for the remaining 2 months so that i was here legally but this whole mess with getting our tickets screwed it all up, as i knew there would be no way they'd give it to me without a ticket out of here. I spoke with a GNIB official earlier in the year about the dates they wrote in and he told me legally everyone is entitled to 90 days, which would mean i'm still here legally...right? I'm scared stiff about this whole situation because my visa for New Zealand asks about any deportation/entry refusals and if anything happens i'd imagine they'd revoke my visa.

Any advice would be so very greatfully appreciated.

 

They would not do anything about it meaning they would have still been willing to maybe issue me permission to remain? Everything i've ready (which there doesn't seem to be many websites or personal stories regarding Irish immigration) seemed to indicate i would have to have a flight out or else it would have been an immediate rejection.

 

Actually as far as i could tell i wouldn't have had to mail my passport anywhere--just pop down to the local Guarda's office and they could help me sort it. I could be wrong tho. I really appreciate you responding and understand you can't really encourage overstaying.

I hate that i'm stressing about this so much. I never stressed about visas or traveling before (i've been going between the US and Europe the last 8 years in a row) and then i had a mate refused entry into the UK for no good reason really which has instilled this fear in me about immigration and immigration officers

 

As per my understanding every Garda station here has an immigration official (i've been to 2 different ones including one in a smaller town and spoken with GNIB officials) to handle immigration related stuff.

"If you wish to remain in the State beyond the period granted by an Immigration officer on your arrival in the State, you will be required to obtain the permission of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This can be done by reporting to your local Superintendent's Office, An Garda Síochána (Police) in the District in which you reside"-- As from www.justice.ie

 

I'm an American.

 

I'm in Cork which the last time i was down at the Garda station the queue was pretty big, but could have just all been incoming students. I was thinking something like that or even flying as coming in from the ROI i've never had my passport stamped for entry (at least at Gatwick) as there's that nice "coming in from ROI, Guernsey and ?" line where you just give them your boarding pass. So really theres no proof as to when i left or that i overstayed my visa at all. Do you think that is likely to change soon with the new concerns over the growing numbers of illegal immigrants in the UK and the recent terrorist related sercurity concerns?

Btw, thanks again for taking the time to answer all the questions, i really do appreciate it.