How to move to Ireland (the painless way)
Hi everyone, I’ve signed up to Medium long time ago but I’ve never have the urge of writing something, nor I didn’t know what to write about that it’s not already there. In this case I will begin writing about a journey I’m currently experiencing and is how to move to Ireland the good way (that is, without suffering in the middle like I’m doing now).
All began with a dream, long time ago in a continent far far away, that is, America (the continent, not the USA). Since a couple years when I started to learn German, I always wanted to move to Germany, a high developed country with thousands rules and specific ways of doing things, au contraire from Argentina where there are no specific laws for anything and everyone does whatever they want (sic). Going back to my dream, after getting together with my girlfriend (who is German) we decided to move to Ireland, another beautiful country but kind of new in this new world (as my friend Nacho said to me once, they kind of started being a country 30 years ago).
So, how me, being Argentinian can I easily move to the Republic of Ireland? And so it begins…
Step 1: Employment Permit.
After researching for weeks what is the proper way of doing it, I’ve found that working in the IT sector has it’s advantages. I could apply for a Work Permit under the scheme of Critical Skills Employment Permits. That is, a work permit specific to certain skills one has, in my case, I’m a Software Developer with 10 years of experience but no University title, that should count for something right? indeed!
I was in luck, after some long talk with a client from Ireland, we get to an arrangement that they could employ me and they could take care of the work permit process, yay!
Since I don’t have a University title, I had to prove my 10 years of experience in the field… how do I do that? Well, you will need the following things:
- Passport photo (like the ones you can do in any photo place, with the right measurements and the same rules as a passport picture)
- First page of your passport scanned.
- Reference letters (the hardest to get if you didn’t collect them in time before)
For the reference letters, I had to hunt down my old employers, the right way to have this ones are with the logo of the company, a nice recommendation letter which also needs to state that you worked there from X to Y (which proves your years of experience) and of course signed, if they could hand-signed it or e-signed it, that’s always better. After you get all these things, your employer can finally submit your application.
And then… you wait, unfortunately you don’t know after it’s being processed if you should book anything (flights, hotels, etc). In my case, I wasn’t sure if the 10 years of experience will count as something or if I really should have a University title, so I was kind of scared, for the processing dates you can go here. It took around a month for my application to be processed, and after that, you still need to wait to see if they approve it or not, fortunately, they created a new page if you want to enquiry the status of your application.
So after a month and a half and after daily checking for the status of my application I got the right email:
BTW: You need to enter the Republic of Ireland with the Work Permit so they can stamp your passport the correct way.
Step 1: completed.
Step 2: Getting the permit in my hands.
Ok, in 1–2 days they will send the Employment Permit through normal post, that means, I could get it in a week?, a week and a half?, so I booked my flight and hotels / Airbnb 3 weeks in advance, that will give me plenty of time. How wrong I was…
After a week, a week and a half I got nothing, so I emailed the DJEI to see if they can tell me something about it, after a misunderstanding from my side, it seems the Work Permit was issued to my employer and he got it since a couple of days in the office but he wasn’t at his office, so after checking on it, he discover he has one! yay!… no wait, it’s a copy and is not the original (yes, you need to have the original to enter to Ireland)…. oowwww…… (one day after)…. it seems the original was behind the copy! yay! That was on a Tuesday evening and I had my flight booked for Saturday, I was on the edge, I checked UPS, Fedex, DHL… who can send this that fast for me to get it in time? It seems no one, well, at least let’s try. Wednesday morning the permit was sent via DHL, they say I will get it in my home by Monday, f**… I was checking all online where the package was, Dublin…. London…. Spain…. Spain…. Spain… it wasn’t moving, this was on Thursday evening and I thought. Where else could this go after Spain? I don’t think it can keep circling in Europe since this needs to go to South America and since there wasn’t any updates on the DHL page I thought, well, this can be coming to me or Brazil and then to me, I called DHL and asked about it, they don’t know or couldn’t tell me, they told me to call in the morning and if it’s there, I can tell them to hold the package there and I can pick it up.
Friday morning: I get up at 7:45AM (DHL office opens at 8), I checked DHL page and voilá! it was there, I called DHL office at 8 sharp.
Me: Hi, I have a package that it just arrived there, can I pick it up later today?
DHL: Yes, absolutely.
It wasn’t like that, but something like that…
Step 2: completed
Step 3: Moving to Ireland (GNIB card)
With my hotels / Airbnb + flight intact, I was in a very good mood, I knew from research that I had to register with the Gardaí upon arriving, that is to register yourself as a person who will reside in the country, in my case, I had the Work Permit which allows me to live in the country and work, the Work Permit is valid for 2 years, which can be extended if you wish to remain in the country. Since I knew about this, I booked my first hotel in the middle of Dublin to be near the place, this was on a Monday…. a Monday which was holiday… f***. Well, at least I enjoyed the city that day, the next day I had an Airbnb booked in Stepaside, which was kind of far from the city, like an hour driving with Bus. Since I had 90 days of limit to register with the Gardaí, I didn’t do it immediately, I must have wait 2 extra days and then I went there, I was pointed out by a friend that I had to be really early and since I never (or most of the times) pay attention to what people say to me, I went there by 9:30AM…
sorry, we don’t give any more numbers, come back tomorrow, we open at 7:45
Fu**…
Next day, I get up early enough, I was there by 8AM if I remember correctly, long line that went around half of the block, line moving slowly, I was in! Another line inside, after some hours (?) I get a number around 10:30AM I think, number 253, I checked the electronic sign, they were taking the 40th person I think, they told me come back in 4 hours. After 4 hours I come back, 150th person… ouch… went away, enjoyed a little bit more of the city, came back at around 4:00PM, almost there, 230? Maybe, I don’t remember but I want to say it’s exactly as I remember.
After the whole day “lost” I got my GNIB card! That is kind of your ID in Ireland for non-EU people.
Step 3: completed
Step 4: Getting a house
I must say, this came much before but I’m telling my story exactly in the order it happened. We started searching for a house much before coming to Ireland, but the problem is, nobody rents a house to people if they’re not in the country and you show personal interest in the house, so until you’re not here, don’t even bother to search for a house since all the houses go away after a week of being published, there is a high demand of houses.
Where should you search for a house / apartment? The best place is www.daft.ie
Once you found a place and show interest, you will be asked for a lot of things, to make things easier for you, what you should have prepared is:
- Contract from your employer that you will be working in Ireland starting X day and better if you show your salary, that will give the landlord an idea if you will be able to pay the house / apartment or not.
- Landlord reference, if you had a landlord before, ask them for a letter of recommendation.
- First page of your passport showing them who you are.
- Have dogs like me? Take them some pictures to show the new landlord what they expect and write them if they are house trained or not, in my case, my dogs will be always in the garden and the landlord was ok with that.
- Employer reference letter stating that you will be working for them and they can reach them at XXXX. This is very important.
After some weeks of searching and emailing different landlords we got the house we wanted!
Step 4: completed
Step 5: Bank account
Ok, you are here, you need a bank account where your employer can pay you, let’s go to the bank! What do I need?
- Passport
- Proof of address (tricky one)
Proof of address…. proof of address, I have my tenancy agreement!
BOI (Bank of Ireland):
Me: Hi, will this be enough for creating the bank account? (showing my tenancy agreement)
BOI representative: Lets see…. after some minutes and checking with other co-workers…. yes!
Yey! I was one step ahead of getting my bank account, I made an appointment with someone who can actually create my bank account. After 2 hours I was back in BOI and to my surprise…
BOI: No, this doesn’t work. It needs to be a bank statement from another bank in Ireland.
Me: I don’t have, that’s what I’m trying to do!
BOI: Well, do you have a utility bill ?
Me: No, I just moved to Dublin.
BOI: Come back when you have any of those.
Frustration frustration…
Step 5: on hold
Step 6: Internet!
I decided to call Vodafone since it’s the cheapest and it didn’t sound bad, until 100mb download, 20mb upload… sounds ok, let’s do it!
After some talking with the Vodafone representative and checking that they have service in my address. He asked me for my IBAN. Well… I don’t have one!!! Can’t I pay the bills in the post? No… well, it seems if you don’t have a bank account, you can’t do much in this country.
Step 6: incomplete
Step 7: Electricity, Gas & Water
Once you get to your new house, you will notice all the bills are in the name of the previous tenant or maybe the landlord, in my case was the previous tenant. In the case of Electricity and Gas, they mostly come from the same company. So you need to call to any of the companies to switch them under your name, that way we can complete step #5.
In the case of the water service, pretty straightforward, they just asked me where I live, name, etc. All done within minutes.
In the case of the electric & gas service, you have multiple companies where you can choose from, Bord Gaís Energy, Electric Ireland, Energia. I was particularly inclined to Energia since they offered some good benefits, so I tried to join them, after some talking and some meter readings (yes, you need to tell them your meter readings, those can be found in the meters, yes you got that right) I asked them if they could somehow send me a proof of address or something for the bank, the answer was NO, you need to wait 2 months when the first bill comes. WTF… 2 months and then I can have my bank account? that doesn’t sounds right, there should be an easier way. I hanged up.
I call Bord Gaís Energy which is the same as the previous tenant have, maybe they can do something about it since they were already in the house. After some more meter readings, I asked the same question and to my surprise the woman on the phone said “absolutely, you will have your proof of address in around 2–3 working days”. My eyes were filled with tears as I think her about it (they were fake tears btw).
After 3 days, I got in my mail the following:
RE: Connection to the Electricity Distribution System
I was really excited I must say, it said my name (without any misspelling) and my home address! Double yay!
Step 7: completed
Step 8: Trash service
After some days of living in our new home, we noticed our bins were not being taken by the trash service, asking my employer if he knows about it he said “yes, you need to join the service”. Good to know! I called the number in my trash bins, Panda is the name of the company.
After some talking and some address check, they asked me for my IBAN number… well, I don’t have a bank account. Lucky for me, the trash service can be paid in case via postal order, so you can sign up that way and then pay the bills in the post. This will be only until I get my Bank account.
Step 8: completed
Step 5: resuming…
I went straight to the bank, I went to AIB since they had a benefit which I don’t remember what it was but got my attention. I went in, I showed my shiny letter of proof of address and they took a look at it and they said…
AIB: That’s not a utility bill.
Me: Yeah I know, but the electric company said this should be enough, since it has my name and my address…
AIB: No, it needs to be a utility bill, or… (thinking) is your employer with us? otherwise he can write a letter indicating that you are working for them here.
Me: No, my employer is with BOI.
AIB: Well, you can ask them.
Since I wanted a bank account that same day, I went to BOI which was literally, 50 meters away.
Me: Hi, does this work as proof of address to open a bank account? (I had to try with my shiny paper first).
BOI: No, it needs to be a utility bill.
Me: WTF (I didn’t say this, I just thought about it). Well, AIB told me if my employer was with them, he can asked a letter about it. Can I do that since my employer is with BOI?.
BOI: No, we don’t do that
WTF Ireland… really? each bank has different rules?… well, time to go home. Wait… KBC? I heard about that bank, I’m here already, I need to try it.
Me: Hi, does this work as proof of address?
KBC: Yes, absolutely.
Me: (Eyes with tears again…) Are you sure?
KBC: Yes, let me just double check with the higher bank (all banks are regulated by a higher bank in Ireland of course)… yes, we can do that.
Me: Are you 100% sure? I asked in 2 others bank and they don’t do that.
KBC: Yes, we can.
Step 5: completed
At this point, I was already proud of myself on defeating all this bosses like in an old game like Street Fighter defeating Vega, Balrock and Bison.
Step 8: completed (the internet one)
Step 9: PPS Number
As in every country, you need your tax number identification, this is the PPS number. For this, as a friend who was living here told me, you need to get to the offices in order to get it… it seems things changed in 2 years since he was here and left, now you can (must) book an appointment online to get it. So I did, to my surprise, being 10th of May, the next available day was Friday 3rd… of June. The office is not full at all, at least it was my case. So I asked one of the guys there and they gave me a number and asked me to wait, after some minutes you’re called back and they asked you to provide proof of address as well as a contract or letter from an employer (in my case I came to work). After that and a picture for your card, you are free to go, PPS number will be available in your mail after 3–5 working days and I’m 10 working days your PPS card.
Step 9: complete
To summarise, yes it’s hard to move to another country and more when you need to struggle to get a proof of address where it can take 2 months if you don’t ask the correct questions. It can also be hard to guess that you need to sign up to the trash service and things like that. But at the end, you look through the windows of your home and you noticed you made the right decision moving to Ireland, a beautiful country with some rules that need to be changed yes, but a nice place at the end. What will I do differently if I had to make all this process again? well, here is my recommendation:
- Book PPS appointment in advance, for this you will also need proof of address, so make sure you will have one by then.
- GNIB card registration (if you are non-EU).
- Getting a house / apartment.
- Change utility bills under your name. Make sure to ask about the proof of address, in any case, they sent me later a bill online (a week after I signed up) for a security deposit, this is already a bill so this should be ok.
- If you need trash service right away, be sure to write a postal order to them, it cost me 64 euros and they call you to finalize the subscription.
- Go to the bank, I recommend KBC, they treated me really nice and they accepted my first paper without hesitation.
- Once you get your IBAN, get fibre broadband!
- One other thing is a good-to-have is a Leap Card, this is a card which you can fill with money to drive with the Buses, LUAS and DART (trains), this can be found in any little kiosk, it costs 5 euros + the money you want to top up with. This is a major advantage of running around with thousand coins to travel with the buses, so be sure to get one the minute you get to Ireland.
- Mobile phone? I got a prepaid card in Three, which is completely fine, you pay 20 euros per month and you get unlimited data (niceeeee), free texts and free calls on weekends. It’s better than other prepaid cards from Vodafone, etc and it works as it should, I never had any problem with it.
8 and 9 you can do it as soon as you arrive to Ireland, so my recommendation is you do that.
Let me know if you have any other questions!