BF gets 3rd Irish visa

When I pointed out to him that he was breaking the law, his reply was that "they don't check for passports on the buses".

You can tell your friend that you were in correct in that he was "lucky" as they DO check the buses and I know this from being on the bus when they did - in my case this was on the Belfast to Dublin "airport" bus but they had set up a check point and the Garda ( Southern Police force) were pulling in random buses and walking up and down the aisle and asking for ID in theory from everyone but in practice it turned out they ignored the local pale faced pasty white irish looking people and went for the Eastern Europeans and Asians that were aboard, when they came to me I asked what was up as it was SO unusual to see this sort of checkpoint and the Guard just said they were looking for illegal immigrants. To be fair neither I nor any of my friends traveling with me on the bus had EVER seen this sort of check before, either North or South and never have again, however it shows that it does go on.

remember that they will have to brave the Larne to Stranraer ferry too, that would seem to be a more logical point to have spot checks.

Again even though I mentioned the same crossing earlier people should be aware that they DO have check points there as well and whilst they are random I'm guessing the chances of a car being stopped with an Asian guy in it just might be higher than one without and likewise sometimes there is also a second checkpoint as you leave the ferry at the other end which actually is in my experience actually somewhat stricter than the one on the way out of N.Ireland, so it's very much a matter of random luck and with the heavy fines involved in "people smuggling" ( as that's is most certainly how it would be viewed by the authorities) I'm really not sure that it's worth taking the risk.

Speaking personally if it was a short trip whilst on holiday or something just between the North and the South or Ireland and you were in your own private car etc, then I probably would risk it as the chances of getting stopped / caught are very low, but likewise that's all fine until you're involved in a car accident or something crazy and then it all goes to shit when the police man asks for the ID of everyone in the car perhaps and the whole thing starts to unravel :-(

[colmx]

Wow this original thread is 5 years old!
BF has been to Ireland loads of times since...

@greenteaman:
Irish tourist visa is pretty much as difficult to obtain as the UK visa... So i don't really think it is an easier option for you.
There is a common travel area between UK-NI-Irish Republic (for citizens of those countries) so they are pretty strict on whom they let into Ireland (unless they are "refugees" from Africa)

I recall reading a recent press report about a brazilian couple that came to Ireland (Republic) and crossed into NI hoping to fly from Belfast to Heathrow

They were stopped in Belfast and could not fly to mainland UK

In the meantime they were illegal aliens In NI
And the Republic would not let them back down south as they did npt have re-entry visas

In the end their govt had to fly they back to Brazil...

Suggest you follow some of teh advice above and get a visa the right way...
From my experience owning land (and having the Shanoot to prove you own it) seems to be a good way to help encourage the Embassy staff to believe that the thai guy will return home at the end of their visa...

... the Larne to Stranraer ferry ...

Not trying to be pedantic and it doesn't affect the meaning of your post, but for anybody who happens to have an interest, the Larne - Stranraer ferry has been defunct for a few months now - a new P&O terminal has been built a few miles away @ Cairnryan (ie the Scottish end).

:occasion9:

[colmx]

Sorry to resurrect a zombie thread...

Happy to report that my Bf has now been granted his 7th visa and will hopefully arrive back to Dubin in the next 10 days.

To those that say the 2nd and subsequent visa etc is easier to get than the 1st... well i dispute that... each visa gets progressively more difficult... with more paperwork and longer wait required (most recent application took alost 6 weeks to process)

In fact the most recent application required more papework and translations (and calls t Kuala Lumpur embassy) than ever before

To the 2 board members that offered to help with the visa application - thanks for you offer - but we decided to "go it alone" this trip... but your offer is most appreciated...

Now all we gotta do is make sure he has a good time when he is here!

[RonanTheBarbarian]

Congrats colmx

Hope he has a good time.

[martin911]

I was chatting to Tam yesterday on FB ---he sounds all excited about going over to you -- And i forgot to ask him --what about the Mutt ???
I presume you didnt get a Visa for him also ^^ 55555--
-AND -- (he might do a sausie run for me on the way back ?? )

Dont kill each other !!!!