Ireland, where the European headquarters of Apple, Google and other tech giants are located, has long been an attractive destination for career immigration of IT specialists from Russia.
Although this country has now closed the startup visa program for Russians, the option to move for work or study is still available. We tell you what you need for a student and work visa and why expats should buy a home with a mortgage and get a fishing license Ireland is not part of the Schengen zone, but in the current geopolitical circumstances this can be considered a plus – it independently decides how and to whom to issue visas, notes the founder of Time to move Ireland, Anzhelika Samuilova. According to her, Ireland, without any prejudice, even issues tourist visas to Russians, refusing, as a rule, if the embassy doubts that the stated purposes of the trip correspond to the real ones. At the same time, in 2022, Ireland closed the possibility of obtaining investment and startup visas for Russians after the start of a “special military operation”*.
However, you must keep in mind that, having arrived in Ireland on a tourist visa, you will not be able to change your status from tourist to some other status while inside the country. If you want to look around first or, for example, have an interview, and then get a work visa, you will have to leave Ireland. “Any citizen of a country outside the European Union, including Russia, who wants to come to Ireland immediately for a long period of time must obtain any visa other than a tourist one,” warns Samuilova. “We advise some clients to first go to Ireland on a tourist visa in order to improve their visa history: come, for example, for a two-week English language course, see Dublin, return to Russia and from there apply for a different type of visa.” There are several Irish immigration visas, but the most realistic and affordable for most are student and work.