We provide expert legal advice and assistance in all areas of immigration.

Whether you need a visa to enter Ireland for work, business, to join an EU spouse/partner or Irish National spouse or partner or for family reunification, we can guide and support you through the process.

We also assist with Irish Citizenship applications and applications for EU treaty rights, Long Term Residency, and change of status.

We provide legal advice in the area of Asylum Applications and Appeals to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, and with applications for Subsidiary Protection and Humanitarian leave.

For employers or workers, we can also advise and assist with work permits and green card applications, renewals and appeals.

Immigration Areas
Immigrant Investor and Business Permission
EU Treaty rights
Irish Citizenship

Work Permits
Where a job offer already exists, we can advise and assist employers and workers with applications for general employment permits and Critical Skills employment permits, renewal applications and also appeals from refusals. We can also advise on entry visa requirements.

Family Reunification
Irish Citizens and residents may apply for immigration permission to be granted to their non-EU citizen spouse, civil partner, children and dependents. These applications can be complicated and certain criteria must be met depending on the individual’s circumstances.
To be joined by a family member in Ireland is of huge significance to our clients. We have a huge portfolio of successful cases in nearly all scenarios.

‘Zambrano’ Cases
In March 2011 the European Court of Justice made a landmark finding that for a Member State to refuse to grant residency to a third country national with dependent minor EU citizen child living in the EU, amounted to a breach of Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
As a response, the Irish Department of Justice and Equality introduced an administrative scheme where a non-EU parent of an Irish born dependent citizen child living in Ireland could be granted residency here on a ‘stamp 4’ basis.

While this can be a straight forward matter for some people to prove; complexities can often arise i.e if the parent or the child has left the EU, where the ‘child’ has reached 18 or where there has been a separation between the parents of the child.

Visa applications and appeals

There are two main types of visa applications:

1. Temporary or short term visa. This visa permits the holder to enter the State only for a limited period only. On entry to the State, the visa holder will be given a stamp in their passport to allow them to remain in the State for a specific period of time, up to maximum of 90 days. Here, the visitor has no entitlement to remain in the State after the specific period.
2. Long term visa. This visa is issued to applicants who express an intention to travel to the State for the purposes of residing long term. It will only be issued to applicants who have some connection to the State entitling them to remain on a long term basis. For example, they are the holder of a work permit or green card, or they have particular family connections in the State. This D visa permits the holder to enter the State, at which point they will usually be given a stamp in their passport that allows them to remain for a one month period. During this month they must register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau in order have their permission to remain extended.

Regularising legal status
We are able to advise those with no legal status in Ireland. In some cases we can help to regularise their position in the country.

Deportation Orders
Deportation Orders issued by the Minister for Justice and Equality are permanent. If a person is served with a deportation order and leaves Ireland voluntarily or is actually deported –the deportation order remains in effect. If you receive a deportation order or an intention to make a deportation order, this is serious and urgent advice should be sought.

We can advise in circumstances where a person has been served with a 3 options letter (proposal to deport) or where a deportation order has been made and you wish to challenge or appeal this.
Judicial Review

We have a wide experience of challenging decisions of the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation where we are assisted by a group of highly skilled barristers.

There is a strict time limit in which to issue proceedings and advice should be sought as soon as possible.

Long-term residency (stamp 5 & 6)
If you have been resident in Ireland legally for 5 years on work permit conditions you can apply forLong Term Residency. After 8 years legal residency, you can apply for leave to remain without conditions as to time.

We can assist with the process and ensure the correct papers are lodged with the application to ensure the quickest decision.

Subsidiary Protection
Subsidiary Protection is a complementary form of protection, which may apply to those who would be at risk of serious harm if returned to their home country, but who do not fit the strict definition of a refugee. It is provided by European Directive 2004/83, the “qualification directive”. A person is entitled to subsidiary protection if they can show that if returned to his or her country of origin they would face a real risk of suffering serious harm, defined as: “Death penalty or execution; Torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or Serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.”
We acted on behalf of the applicant in the case of MM and the Minister for Justice & Equality, Ireland and the Attorney General (No.3), which involved a preliminary reference on a question of law from the

Irish High court to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
Because of this judgment the Irish government has been forced to introduce this new law on subsidiary protection in response to the judgment of the High Court in January 2013. A new system for the processing of subsidiary protection applications was introduced and following same a subsidiary protection applicant is now entitled to an oral hearing and if they are refused they are entitled to an oral appeal.

The High Court and the CJEU found that Ireland had failed to properly implement European law in this area. The Court held that an applicant who has applied for subsidiary protection after the rejection of their asylum claim must be granted a fresh hearing, where any further submissions must be taken into account. Following this judgment, the Irish High Court struck down the Minister of Justice’s refusal to grant subsidiary protection to the applicant. In MM’s case,

BKC Solicitors have assisted many visa applicants acquire visas to enter the State. Many applicants request our assistance in order to advise them in respect of the visa application process, and how to make the best visa application possible. In particular, many applicants have difficulty in acquiring the long term D visa, and are often refused on their first attempt. We assist such applicants at the initial stages of application and on appeal.