Immigration Law

McKeowns Solicitors

Our Immigration Team continuously track and anticipate immigration law and policy changes. This allows us to brief our clients about issues that may affect them at the earliest possible stage. We use our knowledge, experience and expertise to resolve our clients' immigration problems. while providing the highest standards of service and client care. We are well recognised for dealing promptly and efficiently with all matters, problems and difficulties on behalf of our clients. As well as helping individuals we can also assist employers in obtaining sponsorship licences to permit them to hire skilled nationals from other countries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Qualify for British Citizenship?
1. You must have lived in the UK for the last 5 years legally without absence longer than 450 days.
2. You must not have travelled outside of the UK for more than 90 days in the past year.
3. EEA nationals must have permanent residence, non-EEA nationals must have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK (in addition you must have held this for one year prior to submitting your application)
4. Be over 18 years of age.
5. Be of ‘Good Character’. However, if you do have any previous convictions, we can provide advice as to how this might impact upon your application.
6. Meet the minimum English language requirement of passing a Level B1 test.
7. Pass the "Life in the UK test."
My child was born in the UK is he/she entitled to citizenship?
If at the time your child was born, the parents were British Citizens themselves and had Settled Status in the UK, then your child was automatically born a British Citizen and you can then apply for your child’s British passport.
If your child was born in the UK but at the time of the birth neither of the parents were British Citizens or held Settled Status, then the child was not born British. The child may however be entitled to register as British.
When can a child be registered as British?
When a child is settled in the UK and at least one parent is now British or Settled in the UK. Where you can demonstrate that the child’s future clearly lies in the UK with a qualifying period of either 7 years residence or 10 years residence.
That it would be in the child’s best interest to be registered British.
Can my Non-EEA national join me in the UK?
You may be entitled to apply for an EEA Family Permit this makes it possible for you to bring family members who are not EEA Nationals to travel or join you in the UK. EEA family permit holders can enter the UK live and work there based on them being a dependant of a citizen of the EEA national. A family permit is suitable for a spouse or civil partner, a descendant child or grandchild, a cousin, aunt, uncle a dependant relative in the ascending line of an EEA national.
What is the difference between a marriage visit visa and a fiancé/fiancée visa?
The marriage visit visa will allow your fiancé/fiancée to come to the UK to get married to you. Once married they must then return to their home country and apply from there for a spouse visa. A fiancé/fiancée visa will allow your partner to come to the UK for a period of 6 months and to marry within the 6 months. Once married your partner can apply from within the UK to switch to a spouse visa without leaving the country.

Can I come to the UK to work?
If you are from the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you can work in the UK without a work permit.
If you are from outside this area you will need to obtain a work permit. To obtain a work permit Tier 2 Visa you will need to have received a confirmed offer of employment from a licensed UK employer who will act as your sponsor. You will need to have been given a certificate of sponsorship from your potential employer. Finally, you will need to pass the points based system assessment which we can guide you through.
What is a sponsorship licence, and should I get one for my business?
A sponsorship licence is permission granted by the Home Office to an employer/company to hire skilled nationals from non-EEA countries under the Tier 2 route. You must show this is genuine employment and either be on the shortage occupation list or meet the market test.
A sponsorship licence can help a business to expand or meet their needs when they are finding it difficult in recruiting from within the UK and EEA.
Can I start a business in the UK?
Currently European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals do not currently need permission to start a business in the UK. You should note that the UK is due to leave the EU in December 2020 and the position for EEA and Swiss nationals will then change.
For Non-EEA nationals there are various options available to starting your business.
For instance, Innovator visas do not require a minimum investment if acting in collaboration with established businesses. However, some classes of new business visas must provide £50,000 in investment funds. Whereas, Start-up visas do not require a minimum investment.
All applications for such visas must be accompanied with a business plan which has been endorsed by one of the UK approved endorsing bodies.
A Global Talent visa grants the right to work to any potential employer or self-employed person in the fields of Arts, Sciences or Digital Technology. Approval and proof of exceptional talent must be obtained from one of the UK approved endorsing bodies to prove exceptional talent.
Holding Irish Citizenship has many advantages. You will be entitled to live and work in Ireland, and you can apply to bring your family also. As an EEA member, you and your family would also be entitled to live and work in any other EU country, and under the common travel area agreement you are permitted to live and work in the UK.
Holding an Irish passport is a very favourable passport for travelling including to other countries such as USA, Canada, Australia and many more.
If you were born in Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland
You could be an Irish citizen if:
You were born in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland before 2005, you are likely to automatically be an Irish citizen.
If you were born on the island of Ireland as above, after 1 January 2005, your citizenship status will depend on:
1. your parent’s citizenship at the time of the birth, if one was Irish then you are likely to automatically be an Irish citizen.
2. If neither were Irish citizens, their legal residency history in Ireland before your birth will be important to determine your rights.
If you are entitled to citizenship, you can apply for an Irish passport direct without having to make an application for citizenship. To apply for a passport, you are likely to able to do this online via www.dfa.ie/passports/how-to-apply-for-a-passport
If you were born outside of Ireland, but a Parent was born on the Island of Ireland, or later became an Irish citizen
You could be an Irish citizen:
1. If a parent was born in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland before 2005, you are likely to automatically be an Irish citizen.
2. If you have been adopted, but one of your birth parents was an Irish Citizen. you are likely to automatically be an Irish citizen, proving this can be challenging as you will need to demonstrate a direct link from you to your parent. Get in touch to discuss in more detail.
If you are entitled to citizenship, you can apply for an Irish passport without making an application for citizenship. See the above link for passport applications.
1. If a parent became an Irish citizen through the process of Naturalisation, or through the foreign birth registry BEFORE you were born, you are likely to be entitled to become an Irish citizen but will need to apply for citizenship through the Foreign Birth Registry. Once that process is complete, you will then be an Irish Citizen and therefore then entitled to apply for an Irish passport.
2. If a parent became an Irish Citizen AFTER your birth, their citizenship may not automatically pass to you. If your parent became an Irish Citizen through naturalisation after your birth, then you are unlikely to benefit from their citizenship.
3. If your parent became Irish through registering on the Foreign Birth Register, and they did this after you were born but registered or applied BEFORE the laws changed in 1986, you may still be eligible to apply on the foreign birth register.
There are several locations where you can carry out your own research and make applications for the appropriate documents that you will need for the applications if you do not already have them. We will share these tips with you and include these in your advice letter also. You may also consider using the services of a genealogist to assist you in tracking details and documents of your ancestors.
If none of the above categories apply to you, you should consider the next generation that were born in Ireland, if any, and see below related to generations beyond grandparent.
You and your parent(s) were born outside of Ireland, and a Grandparent was born on the Island of Ireland.
If you had a Grandparent that was born on the Island of Ireland, either before or after the formation of the Republic you are entitled to citizenship but must apply to become an Irish citizen by descent.
The process for applying is making an application for registering on the Foreign Birth Registry (FBR). The foreign birth registry application involves two steps, an online form, followed by the physical form and supporting documents submitted to the FBR.
Once that process is complete, you will then be an Irish Citizen and therefore then entitled to apply for an Irish passport. You cannot apply for an Irish passport unless you are an automatic Irish citizen or you have completed a valid application for citizenship and been approved.
Naturalisation to become an Irish citizen
There are a number of main routes to apply for Naturalisation.
1. Residence in the Republic of Ireland.
2. Residence in the Republic of Ireland while married or in a civil partnership with an Irish citizen.
3. Residence in Northern Ireland while married or in a civil partnership with an Irish citizen.
4. By Decent and or Association with or without residence.
The application process involves an application form (cannot be done online) and supporting evidence including proof of residence, partnership/spouse, background checks, three character references from Irish citizens, and any other related proof. Once the application is approved, you will be invited to attend a naturalisation ceremony.
Throughout covid-19 the ceremony was suspended and replaced with a statutory declaration. It is likely the ceremony will be re-introduced when safe to do so.
Once that process is complete, you will then be an Irish Citizen and therefore then entitled to apply for an Irish passport.
Residence in the Republic of Ireland.
You can apply to become and Irish citizen if you have lived legally in the Republic of Ireland for at least 5 years out of the last 9 years. This includes 1 year of continuous residence immediately before the date you apply. 5 x 365 = 1825 days reckonable residence out of the last 9 years. Absences of up to six weeks per annum will not affect your application.
Not every type of visa will count towards that residence, so it is important to understand the differences. Generally speaking, short term visas such on visit visa, business visa, student visas, or the graduate programme will not count as residence regardless of how long you remain in Ireland. Time spent illegally also will not count. Most longer term visas do count such as work permits, dependant relatives, EEA permits etc.
You must also demonstrate that you intend to live in Ireland after you have become an Irish citizen.
You are a person of good character, this means you will have to declare any offences in the past including convictions, cautions etc, and/or current investigations, and any civil cases related to your character such as barring orders or violence related orders. (background checks will be necessary as part of an application regarding any criminal history)
Residence in the Republic of Ireland while married to an Irish citizen spouse.
You can apply to become and Irish citizen if you have been married for at least three years to Irish citizen, and you have both lived legally in the Republic of Ireland for 3 out of the last 5 years, This includes 1 year of continuous residence immediately before you make your application. 3 x 365 = 1095 days reckonable residence out of the last 9 years. Absences of up to six weeks per annum will not affect your application.
You must also demonstrate that you intend to live in Ireland after you have become an Irish citizen.
You are a person of good character (background checks will be necessary as part of an application regarding any criminal history)
Residence in Northern Ireland while married or in a civil partnership with an Irish citizen.
You can apply to become and Irish citizen if you have been married for at least three years to Irish citizen, and you have both lived legally in the Northern Ireland for 3 out of the last 5 years, This includes 1 year of continuous residence immediately before you make your application. 3 x 365 = 1095 days reckonable residence out of the last 9 years. Absences of up to six weeks per annum will not affect your application.
You are a person of good character, this means you will have to declare any offences in the past including convictions, cautions etc, and/or current investigations, and any civil cases related to your character such as barring orders or violence related orders.
Please note that you cannot apply for naturalisation for Irish citizenship based on having lived in Northern Ireland and not having been married or in a civil partnership to an Irish citizen. Residence on its own in Northern Ireland does not count as residence for citizenship purpose.
Descent through a Great-grandparent and or Association with or without residence.
You may be able to apply for citizenship based on Decent, and or Association to Ireland. Descent is where you have a blood-line relative, generally no greater than a great-grandparent, that was born on the Island of Ireland. Anything further back than a great-grandparent is not likely to be a close lineage for an application.
Associations are connections to Ireland other than by blood, and can include periods of residence, study, representing Ireland, being connected via charity work, or through work or establishing a business or through Irish networks. There is no defined list of what can be considered as a connection.
All applications for naturalisation require a period of residence in Ireland as per the residency rules. You can still apply without meeting the residence requirements as it is open to the Minister of Justice to consider your application. The Minister has the authority to waive any requirements of the rules including residence and can grant citizenship.
You may likely read a lot of comments and suggestions online about this topic. I would strongly encourage you to carefully consider online forums or promises of success in these types of applications. The reality in my view is that unless you have some form of residence, currently three years is suggested by the Minister, and or some other very strong compelling connections to Ireland, it is not likely the application will be successful.
An application based on a great-grandparent connection alone without any other connections or any form of residence in my view would not be a strong enough application.
Visiting Ireland and or Northern Ireland
There has never been a better time to visit the Island of Ireland. With its rich cultural history, breath taking scenery, preserved castles and forts, bustling towns and cities, is has become so popular it is even fast becoming a major filming location for movies and TV series, from the Cliffs of Mohar in co Claire to Malin head in Donegal to the Giants causeway in county Antrim there is much to see and explore.
If you are a non visa required national, you will not require a visa in advance. You can travel to Ireland and effectively apply on entry via border control. For visa required nationals you will require a visit visa in advance, and depending on your nationality if you plan on travelling between Ireland and Northern Ireland/UK you may require and Irish and UK visit visa.
- See the link below for full list of non-visa required countries traveling to the Republic of Ireland. Immigration-Service-Delivery-Visa-and-Non-Visa-Required-Countries (irishimmigration.ie)
- See link for full list of non-visa required countries wishing to travel to Northern Ireland.
Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For Indian and Chinese nationals there is a special agreement “Irish visa waiver programme” under the common travel area meaning that if you obtain a visit visa to Ireland you are also entitled to travel to Northern Ireland and mainland UK without needed a separate visa and vice visa if you have a UK visa. Note all other nationalities (for now) under the same circumstances would require separate UK and Irish visas.
To obtain a travel visa, the initial application is completed online and then submitted with all required documents to the Embassy for processing. A visa to Ireland is generally for a maximum of 90 days, whereas a UK visit visa can be for up to 180 days.
You will need to show your journey plan as part of the application and show your intentions of returning to your home country, and that you have sufficient funds to cover the cost of your trip.
If you wish to discuss your visa options, please get in touch and we would be pleased to help you.
Moving to the Republic of Ireland?
If you or a family member are considering moving to Ireland and need to navigate the rules on whether a visa is required or not, and if so, what kind and how to apply, we will be able to assist in offering advice and helping you make an application for leave to enter or remain.
Please get in touch to arrange a consultation if you need further more detailed information on your citizenship rights.

Hear it from our clients

"Jolene has brought my claim to a successful conclusion. I am very delighted with the exceptional service provided and her team. Good job. Thank you"

"I was very satisfied with Sean Hayes. He was a very pleasant person to talk to and made me feel so much better to have someone like him on the other side of the phone. A great service."

"Thanks Michelle. I got your message and we are arranging key collection directly with the Estate Agent now. Thanks so much for a pain free transaction and your diligence on all matters that enabled a close today. It’s very much appreciated. "

"Hi Michelle, Just wanted to express thanks and say you were really very helpful. you guided us with all the process and answered all our silly questions. You were always available on a phone call away. Really happy with your services. "

"Hi Sydney, Just wanted to send you a quick email to thank you for the smooth process for the house purchase that completed yesterday! It was my first time using McKeown's and I am impressed with the level of professionalism & efficiency for my case. I will be sure to refer any future business to you personally, thanks again & stay safe!"

"Just wanted to say Thank you to you and your wonderful team for the exemplary service myself and Paul have received by yourselves. It was a pleasure to work with you all and you have made a normally stressful event into a such a positive and enjoyable experience. Thank you for going above a beyond for us. We wouldn’t hesitate in recommending you and your great team."

"Michelle McKinney, even though she was not involved with me at first, took over and I can only say very competently and professionally contacted me by email, letter and telephone. Updating me regularly not withstanding any issues raised by Covid-19. I have nothing but praise and appreciation for her handling of my casein the satisfying conclusion that Michelle brought to it."

"We would just like to thank you and the team once again it has been an absolute pleasure and breeze dealing with you all. Service has been fantastic throughout and I would not hesitate in recommending you to anyone in the future"

"Denis, Many thanks for your patience and guidance in helping me obtain my Irish Passport. Your professionalism and friendliness made the whole process a pleasure."

"Excellent service and would highly recommend McKeowns solicitors to anyone. My first port of call from now on for any legal requirements"

"Sydney, can I take this opportunity to thank you sincerely for helping us complete the sale. Nichola and I are very grateful to you and your team for your hard work and for making this process as smooth as possible for us. Good luck for the future."

"Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! I'm so filled with joy, I'm very very grateful. Thank you so much Denis. I've always believed in you and from the way you handled the application from the beginning I knew it would come out good. You're simply the best! Thank you so much. This news made my new year celebration a blissful one. I'm so happy. You're highly recommended and I'll go on your company Website to give you the best review ever. You're a man with good heart, you're very patient with your clients and you give the best advice on the situation. That makes you a professional in your field. Thank you so much Denis for assisting me and my wife to be together. Even on your holiday, you took the time to share this great news with me. May God Bless You. Thanks a million times. "

"Anytime I have dealt with McKeowns I have been completely satisfied with them. Very helpful and always kept me up to date. Would definitely use and suggest them to anyone."

"I was kept well informed and I got good advice from Michelle. I was provided with a good service which was friendly and on my level. Not too much legal stuff so I could understand what was happening during my case."

"I was referred to McKeowns by my car insurance company after a RTA, I found the team to be responsive, professional and very helpful, they was with me every step of the way and was always in communication with myself whether it be via phone, email or post. I can't thank them enough for their hard work"

"Great service provided and very professional. The online service is a brilliant idea and very useful. Will definitely recommend to others."

"The friendliness and warmth from our first telephone call to McKeowns. The professionalism afforded to us. We will be sorry to see your Newry branch close as the welcome we always received was lovely. However we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for your new office in Belfast."

"Very informative and understanding. Correspondence in writing was really useful at times when I could not take calls during working hours."

"In one word - brilliant!"

"I would just like to thank Michelle for all the advice and help that she has offered. Also for how quickly this matter has been resolved. Would definitely use/or recommend McKeowns Solicitors in future. Thank you."

"I liked the fact that Sean rang me and kept me informed of my claim and when I asked for advice he explained the situation with me. He was very approachable and answered all my questions."

"Sean is a top class Solicitor dealt with my Road Traffic Accident in a professional way and communication was excellent. Always kept me informed. I was referred to him by my insurance compan"

"Sean was always quick to return calls and the online system was updated quickly so i could check on progress outside of working hours."

"Excellent prompt responses via email telephone and letter. Competent valuable service provided at all times"

"I was very impressed with the solicitor Sean Hayes who handled my case. He was very helpful and was always available to give me advice. I am also very satisfied with my settlement. I will be recommending McKeowns to all my friends and work colleagues."

"I would just like to thank Sean Hayes for the excellent work and advice he provided me throughout the case. Sean has been the best solicitor that I have ever had dealing with my case and very quick at getting my compensation in a very short period of time once again thank you."

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