Ireland visa guide
Ireland is an EU member but is not part of the Schengen Area. A Ireland visa does not let you travel on to Schengen countries, and time spent here is counted separately from your Schengen 90/180 days.
A visa decided entirely on paper
Ireland does something most destinations do not: it decides your study visa without ever speaking to you. There is no Campus France-style interview, no consular conversation: an officer reads the file cold and rules on it. Applicants used to talking their way through weak spots find this brutal. Files built for a cold read find it liberating.
Everything we prepare for Ireland is written for that absent conversation: the SOP answers the questions an officer cannot ask, the funds evidence shows its own history, and every anomaly in the academic record explains itself before it is queried.
The list that outranks every brochure
Non-EEA students can only get study permission for programmes on the ILEP, the government's eligible-programmes register. This is the first thing we verify, because the consequence of getting it wrong is absolute: not on the list, no visa. If a recruiter is pushing a course, check the register yourself; it is public precisely so students can.
Funds: history beats size
Irish refusals cluster around money: rarely because there was too little, usually because it appeared too suddenly. A balance that materialised a week before application, a loan structured to look like savings, an account in an uncle's name: officers read these instantly. The requirement is a set minimum in your own name; the winning evidence is the boring kind: funds resting quietly across months of statements. The exact figure is revised periodically; we confirm the current one before your file goes in.
The quiet superpower: Stamp 1G
Ireland's post-study permission, Stamp 1G, lets graduates stay and work without an employment permit for a defined period after finishing. For master's graduates it has been the springboard into Ireland's tech and pharma employers. It is granted under rules in force at graduation time, so we state it as it stands and never as a promise.
Where the budget actually goes
Dublin rent is the number that breaks naive budgets: the rest of Ireland is markedly cheaper, and several strong universities sit outside the capital. Tuition varies by institution and level; verify on the university page and treat any agent's flat figure with suspicion. Insurance, registration and the funds requirement stack on top. We map the full number before you commit to anything.
Official sources
- Immigration Service Delivery, Ireland: https://www.irishimmigration.ie/
- VFS Global India, Ireland: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/irl
Fees and rules change; the official page always prevails. The guide above was written from our filing experience for Indian applicants; check the current requirements on the authority’s site before you book.
