₦airaland Forum

8BitGee:
I'm grateful to God for my family will finally be with me - I will finally be able to hold my son. It's like a burden was lifted off my shoulders. I am saying a prayer for everyone still expecting a response, may it be positive.

In related news, ticket prices are outrageous just now

Congrats bro! That’s great news.

Blueberry111112:
Hey
Congrats!!!
I was looking forward to your good news too
Regards.

Thank you so much and congratulations!

Hey guys,

My wife’s Join Family Visa was approved last week. All glory to God.
Submitted: September 2021
Processing time: 11 months
Work Permit Category: Critical Skills

We submitted a LOT of documents, as we are a new couple and so we did all we could to ensure we convince the VO. This included 7 year old photos together, 3-6 year old exchanged emails, wedding pictures, WhatsApp chat printouts, remittance of funds prior to wedding, wedding flight itinerary including that of our parents! We met in college so we also attached our degree/transcripts from the same school as extra proof amongst many other required documents.
I would say it is very important to have a very detailed “How we met” letter in a timeline manner, especially for newly weds due to high scrutiny checking for arranged weddings etc.

My advice:
If you are just preparing to apply and you can afford a study visa instead, do take that route and save yourself the emotional rollercoaster.
If you are applying for the Join Family Visa, follow very closely what is on Irishimmigration.ie website and go overboard with the documents especially for newly weds and those who got married after relocating to Ireland, as no one can fault you for submitting too much. Prevent fishy/conflicting information and overall pray.

For everyone waiting for a decision, I pray you receive your own good news soonest!

Hey guys, another quiet Monday. Did anyone get feedback today/recently?

barrack04:
Some people who applied mid-august are yet to get a reply. Not sure it has gotten to September

Just wonderful.

8BitGee:
Wow, lads, so many were released this morning and loads of Refusals too. What's the story?

I'm telling you bro. It's just crazy. Those numbers look like July/August to me. After waiting for this long!
We are 2 days into June and the study visa load. It is well.

8BitGee:
Did you find these on page 3? I found just two 47xxx type numbers which is what I use in finding join family applications submitted around that time - June - September 2021.

I don't know anyone on the list.

BTW, I'm not certain I asked this before, apologies if I did, what time of the month did you apply?

Ahh okay. I just assume any old number i.e. 47xx and beyond were probably JF applications.
We applied in mid-September. I'm also particularly on the lookout for 47xxx numbers

Hey 8bitgee, any news for you today?

Looking at the numbers, looks like a fair number of JF approvals.
Curious if folks got feedback today?

8BitGee:
Yes, they heard back on 11/04 and were refused. The VO officer was not satisfied with the evidence of prior relationship provided.

That's just really sad.

8BitGee:
I know someone who applied in early August, 2021 whose visa was approved on Monday 4th April, 2022. I know another brother who applied in mid August that is yet to hear back.

Ours was submitted in mid-September, 2021, meaning it's going on 7 months in a few days.

I may be wrong, however, it appears the applications are left in storage until it's > 6 months since they were submitted.

8bitgee, curious, your friend who applied in mid-August, do you know if he has received feedback?

8BitGee:
Hi @scholesy18, did you get any news today? Only one of the three join-family looking application numbers was approved this morning.

Has anyone else heard back?

Hey bro,

Sadly nothing yet for us.
Yes, I assume you're referring to the first 3. It also looks like they sometimes add more join-family looking numbers at the bottom of the report. I think I saw another 3 at the bottom, also with just 1 approval.

Olaiyatunnex:
Decision is supposed to be out within 3 months for critical skills and that's normal, anything after that means something is wrong. Strong and detailed application is needed to be put forward, pls email olaiyatunnex@gmail.com sometimes some people need to get vital info from people that have gone through the process so as to put in a strong application.

Decision should be within 3 months but this has not been the case for the Ireland embassy in NG in the past year+, maybe due to covid.
At the moment the current processing time, which you will get from the embassy is 6-12 months whether you're a CSEP holder or not. It almost looks like there's no distinction again.

Do you know anyone who recently received feedback in 3 months (From the embassy in Nigeria)?

8BitGee:
Hi guys, did anyone hear back this morning. I saw a lot refusals and just one approval in what looked like join-family applications made around August 2021. Many broken hearts and dreams. And the appeals process does sound even more daunting, it's terrifying.

Reading this just gave me the chills. It's well.

8BitGee:
I know someone who applied in early August, 2021 whose visa was approved on Monday 4th April, 2022. I know another brother who applied in mid August that is yet to hear back.

Ours was submitted in mid-September, 2021, meaning it's going on 7 months in a few days.

I may be wrong, however, it appears the applications are left in storage until it's > 6 months since they were submitted.

Interesting. That's very possible as I'm convinced there could be some throttling causing this. Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully we are close to the end.

Hello everyone,

Since we can't receive any exact processing dates from the Ireland embassy in Nigeria, I figured it could be helpful if everyone shared the current waiting times of their application. May not be fully accurate, but could give us a sense of how much longer we may have to wait in these trying times!

8bitgee mentioned some couples received a response after about 8 months. Has anyone's currently exceeded this 8 months? Data would be encouraging right now!

I can open the floor. September 2021 (7 months), still waiting.

Marimart:
Hello sir, please what are the steps and criteria for obtaining the critical visa?
Thanks.

Hello,
Ideally, you'd need to secure a job in Ireland which matches criteria detailed in links below.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/working_in_ireland/employment_permits/green_card_permits.html
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Workplace-and-Skills/Employment-Permits/Permit-Types/Critical-Skills-Employment-Permit/

After then, you're eligible to apply. In some cases the company applies on your behalf. This is different from a visa or resident permit however. Hope this helps.

8BitGee:
Hi, a lot of people are in our shoes. I know people who applied in June 2021 who just heard back in February 2022. One can not really be sure as to why it is taking this long post-covid as it didn't according to people who got it pre-covid time. The priority appears to be student visa.

You can find and follow the weekly report published every Monday in the link below, however, Join Family visa is not specifically labelled.

https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/nigeria/our-services/visas/weeklydecisionreports/

Wow! Guess we just have to keep waiting. Thanks for the feedback!

I'm currently on the Critical Skills permit and my wife applied for her Join Family Visa in September 2021. It's been 6 months of regular emails and 'still pending' replies and we are frustrated. I wonder if anyone has received their Join Family visas recently, and how long theirs took?