Visa Processing Time after Critical Skills Work Permit

IrelandReality wrote:

Hi Friends,

I hope you are staying safe and healthy.

Background:
My Ireland CSWP application is in progress. My prospective employer in Ireland is a trusted partner. I am currently based in Singapore. I am not a Singaporean so I will need visa to travel to Ireland.

Situation:
The next step will be to obtain visa to travel to Ireland. I called Irish embassy in Singapore to inquire about visa process and timeline. I also sent them an email. The lady responded that it will take 4-6 weeks to obtain Irish visa after application. This 4-6 weeks time is too much as my employer wants me to start ASAP.

Questions:
1. Why would they take 4-6 weeks after CSWP has been approved? Other embassies in Singapore are very quick. For example I got my US B1/B2 visa with 5 years validity in 1 day.

2. What exactly do they do in these 4-6 weeks? Do they do any background checks etc?

3. Are there any chances of visa rejection even after CSWP approval?

4. I need to give appropriate notice to my current employer. Is it safe to resign after CSWP approval? I wouldn't have time to serve two months notice after visa as the new employer will push to join ASAP (max two weeks after visa approval).

5. I need to give appropriate notice to my landlord. Is it safe to give terminate notice to landlord after CSWP approval? I wouldn't have time to serve two months notice after visa as the new employer will push to join ASAP (max two weeks after visa approval).

6. With Covid19, the visa load is very low. Why would they take 4-6 weeks with such minimal number for applications?

Looking forward to your detailed responses to help me take appropriate decisions. Thanks.

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

To try and answer your questions.

1.  Probably because it has to be done in Ireland and COVID has caused a lot of immigration work to slow down because of staffing issues.  If you check the INIS website, they are currently only operating a limited service because of COVID; this is after they completely shut down all visa issues back in March.

2.  Yes, they will do background checks.

3.  Yes, if they find anything untoward while processing your application, they will come back to you with questions to be answered.

4.  While we all would like to work the contractual notice and it's never good to burn your career milestones, if you need to leave the next day, your current employer may be a bit miffed, but he will understand.

5.  Absolutely safe - no, nothing is that safe, you could board the aircraft in Singapore with one boss, to find that your new company has changed hands while you were in flight.  It's one of the things you weigh up when you make the decision to take the new job.

6.  You perhaps need to look at that from the other end of the lense.  The workload is low, so are the number of people working in the office, the vast majority are now working from home.  If yours is a paper linked application, it will be in the pile waiting to be actioned by those few still working.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team