Girlfriend refused entry to Ireland

alrightiwill

Hello all,

Earlier today my girlfriend was refused entry to Ireland in Dublin Airport due to "insufficient funds" and was sent off after being given an ultimatum of either going back or staying a night in prison. I am just wondering if there is any course of action I can take? Or if any compensation would be in order? Let me write out the details of what happened.

The plan was that she would be staying with me for the time she is here in accommodation(already paid for) and that we would be just really hanging out together but apparently she needed more money to do this. €60 a day is what I've been told. A high sum especially for a student whose intent of spending is not that high but that's aside from the point. Having the cash available to give the necessary amount required, I was unable to get in touch with anybody in GNIB over the matter. After running all over the Airport(there is not a single place in either terminal to help you with something like this), I went to the Gardaí station outside of the airport but unfortunately a friendly Garda was unable to help me more than just giving the phone numbers.

However neither of these numbers worked. They dialled through but there was no answer and the automated service hung up every time it said "Please hold for an operator" so I was unable to actively get in touch with GNIB in order to say that she would have the money for the period of stay.

Prior to all this I had received a call from a someone in GNIB I believe. It was a very rude call not explaining the situation or what was happening or indeed who he was. In fact, I was criticised about "how I survive" after recently being laid off and not on being on the dole. Either way, this is information I shouldn't have to disclose but I did hoping it would resolve whatever issues were going on. At the end of the call, when I thought I had explained everything in order to satisfy the person, he said something alike to "that's grand. I'll call you if I need more information" and hung up before I could set up a point of contact. I didn't worry at this stage because I took this as to mean "Everything should be fine now, if not I'll call" but apparently it meant "That should be enough to deport her, but if not I'll call you."

Now I don't want to misled anyone so I'll disclose errors in our part. We are an online couple. We met on a movie website, got along great and decided to give it a go. It's been over a year now and this was really the first time we were supposed to meet. This being the only time to meet as I was working and she was in college. However my girlfriend said that we had met before. This is what we've being telling friends who would naysay our relationship and out of habit and possibly fear this is what she said.

So if anyone could offer help and/or advice I would be grateful a thousand times over.

Thank you,
Mike

P.S. I would also appreciate if anyone could tell me what our options going forward would be? By that I mean, if she would be able to visit Ireland in the future or if this deportation would always be hanging over her head.

P.P.S. I know people will be critical of the fact it's an online relationship so please try not to just reply along the lines that it's not a real relationship or anything, as you can imagine I am in an emotional state over this.

camel jockey

By compensate, do you mean compensate the Irish state for the administrative costs of dealing with her?

ZeroThreat

She's from an EU country?

camel jockey

ZeroThreat wrote: »

She's from an EU country?

Very unlikely, I would have thought.

alrightiwill

camel jockey wrote: »

By compensate, do you mean compensate the Irish state for the administrative costs of dealing with her?

No, that is not what I meant but I believe you are already aware of that.

Edit: Sorry, no she is a US citizen

fussyonion

Forgive me if this questions seems sarcastic..I don't mean it to...but did you actually see her today? I mean before she was refused entry?
Or did she call you or something?

camel jockey

alrightiwill wrote: »

No, that is not what I meant but I believe you are already aware of that.

Okay, so please explain why you think you or she could be entitled to compensation?

She lied to GNIB and had insufficient funds. How much money did she have?

alrightiwill

fussyonion wrote: »

Forgive me if this questions seems sarcastic..I don't mean it to...but did you actually see her today? I mean before she was refused entry?
Or did she call you or something?

No I didn't get to see her. I was stuck in the waiting area while she was being held in customs or emigration. I wasn't able to get in touch with emigration directly, just through the customer service phones they have in the airport.

Edit:

camel jockey wrote: »

Okay, so please explain why you think you or she could be entitled to compensation?

She lied to GNIB and had insufficient funds. How much money did she have?

I never said I should be entitled, I asked a question.

Bullseye1

Since when did tourists have to declare the amount of money they were travelling with? I thought that only related to sums over €10,000 for money laundering.

Don't think I've ever been asked how much I had to keep me for the period of my stay. Is this because she wasn't staying at a hotel?

goz83

I don't see an issue with it being an online relationship, but if she lied to the authorities and was caught wasting their time, that's all they need to send her packing. I don't see where the €60 a day came from. If she was being supported while staying here, she would not need much money, but it would certainly raise eyebrows, especially if you have no job. They are well within their rights to ask you these questions by the way. Where she is from will also be factored in.

Her travel history will stay on record, but that doesn't mean she will be refused entry again. She needs to show that she has a reason to go home and that she needs proof that she is able to survive financially during her stay.

alrightiwill

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Since when did tourists have to declare the amount of money they were travelling with? I thought that only related to sums over €10,000 for money laundering.

Don't think I've ever been asked how much I had to keep me for the period of my stay. Is this because she wasn't staying at a hotel?

It may have been but I don't think so.

Edit:

goz83 wrote: »

I don't see an issue with it being an online relationship, but if she lied to the authorities and was caught wasting their time, that's all they need to send her packing. I don't see where the €60 a day came from. If she was being supported while staying here, she would not need much money, but it would certainly raise eyebrows, especially if you have no job. They are well within their rights to ask you these questions by the way. Where she is from will also be factored in.

Her travel history will stay on record, but that doesn't mean she will be refused entry again. She needs to show that she has a reason to go home and that she needs proof that she is able to survive financially during her stay.

She was told the €60 a day directly by one of the emigration staff. Well that's good to know at least there shouldn't be any issues going forward, thank you

BuffyBot

I'm taking it that she's from outside the EU? If so, very little. Admission to Ireland is pretty much at the discretion of the GNIB.

Look at it from their point of view: This person has arrived. They are visiting someone she's never met, with possibly insufficient funds, coming to meet someone who isn't working (and therefore may not be capable of supporting her). All of these things will tick a lot of alarm bells with immigration folks all over the world.

Compensation: forget it, unfortunately.

She'll be able to visit, most likely, but may or may not require a visa. You'll probably have to chase that up with the GNIB in due course.

maneno

No compensation as entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer,even if everything was in order, they can still refuse the entry,hope you get to meet your girlfriend someday

alrightiwill

BuffyBot wrote: »

I'm taking it that she's from outside the EU? If so, very little. Admission to Ireland is pretty much at the discretion of the GNIB.

Look at it from their point of view: This person has arrived. They are visiting someone she's never met, with possibly insufficient funds, coming to meet someone who isn't working (and therefore may not be capable of supporting her). All of these things will tick a lot of alarm bells with immigration folks all over the world.

Compensation: forget it, unfortunately.

She'll be able to visit, most likely, but may or may not require a visa. You'll probably have to chase that up with the GNIB in due course.

Oh I completely understand from their POV that they were just doing their work. I think I am mainly disappointed in the fact that I couldn't contact them in order to prove myself and her. Also in the manner of the staff member who contacted me. It was rather misleading. I understand that it's their job to catch phonies, but it seemed that it didn't matter to try and see if they were in the wrong.

Edit:

maneno wrote: »

No compensation as entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer,even if everything was in order, they can still refuse the entry,hope you get to meet your girlfriend someday

Thanks. I really hope so today.

michael999999

Are you sure she really travelled?

I suspect the next call you get from her may be her asking you to lodge a lump of money into her account so she will be allowed into the country!

I may be wrong.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

In 2011 I went to Toronto to see my boyfriend (who moved there a few months previously). It was a spur of the moment thing, literally three days, as I booked on the Friday evening, went on Saturday morning and rang in sick to work on Monday, from his bed in Canada.

Immigration in Canada were completely suspicious of me. The guy on the desk sent me into another room where the lady interrogated me, to be fair to her she was actually really lovely, but very thorough in her job.

She asked me where I was staying, I told her with my boyfriend, she took his name address and date of birth and what he worked at. She took my purse and went through every single card I had asking me how much I had on each one. She counted my cash and she searched my bag for drugs and kept asking me why I was only coming for three days. I explained it was a completely random trip, but she wasn't buying it. She completely quizzed me on my relationship how long I knew him if I'd met him before why I was only coming for three days. My phone was dead, and she happened to have an apple charger, I was upset cause he was waiting for me and I'd no way off telling him what happened.

She went through my recent text messages, where we had completely planned the random trip and where we were excited about seeing each other, texting from airport about dreading the flight and everything. She took his number from my phone and she went and rang him away from the desk.

She basically said I had x amount of cash (350 dollars) and was he willing to support me if I needed it, he said yeah. She confirmed with him I was staying with him, and she confirmed that we knew each other and had met before. So, obviously our answers matched and she let me through, making a joke about love and madness.

But it was looking hairy for me and they would have sent me back had they not got in contact with him. It helped he had a good job and were satisfied he could support me if I needed it.

Had they sent me back I don't think I'd have had any right to argue or look for compensation, it had looked completely suspicious and after all they're just doing their job.

I told the truth to immigration, my boyfriend confirmed what I said when she spoke to him. Had either of us been spinning fibs, I'd have been on the next flight back to Dublin no doubt about it.

It was tough luck OP but next time, just make sure ye are more prepared

fussyonion

michael999999 wrote: »

Are you sure she really travelled?

I suspect the next call you get from her may be her asking you to lodge a lump of money into her account so she will be allowed into the country!

I may be wrong.

I'm afraid this is also what sprung to my mind, too, OP, and I don't think anyone here would want to see anyone being strung along so forgive us if we do jump to that conclusion.
It's all too common, you see, especially since that Catfish documentary came to light.

I sincerely hope this isn't the case and that the situation can be resolved quickly for you.

alrightiwill

michael999999 wrote: »

Are you sure she really travelled?

I suspect the next call you get from her may be her asking you to lodge a lump of money into her account so she will be allowed into the country!

I may be wrong.

Yes 100% sure. As I said I was in contact with official authority about this and it was confirmed to me. I know as it's the internet is can be sketchy and this may appear to be a scam but this wasn't the case. I am actually much more upset that it wasn't a scam

Edit:

fussyonion wrote: »

I'm afraid this is also what sprung to my mind, too, OP, and I don't think anyone here would want to see anyone being strung along so forgive us if we do jump to that conclusion.
It's all too common, you see, especially since that Catfish documentary came to light.

I sincerely hope this isn't the case and that the situation can be resolved quickly for you.

I completely understand. And if I had not gone through the experience I too would be sceptical of hearing a tale like this.

fussyonion

alrightiwill wrote: »

Yes 100% sure. As I said I was in contact with official authority about this and it was confirmed to me. I know as it's the internet is can be sketchy and this may appear to be a scam but this wasn't the case. I am actually much more upset that it wasn't a scam

That's fair enough, if you had it confirmed.
Then I'm sorry to hear about this; how awful and very stressful.
Hopefully it'll be sorted out..let us know.,

Kristopherus

Did she have all the needful documents with her? If she could'nt account for her source of funds, that could be verified by the authorities here, then she can be sent back in the next available flight.

alrightiwill

fussyonion wrote: »

That's fair enough, if you had it confirmed.
Then I'm sorry to hear about this; how awful and very stressful.
Hopefully it'll be sorted out..let us know.,

I hope so too. What was being one of the best days of my life quickly turned into one of the worst. But I'm able to look to the positives

Kristopherus wrote: »

Did she have all the needful documents with her? If she could'nt account for her source of funds, that could be verified by the authorities here, then she can be sent back in the next available flight.

Yes, she had all the needed documents for customs. It was her declaration of how much money she had that was the problem.
She can be sent back and she was mate

veetwin

Ok so this woman you never met arrives with no money and says she is going to stay with her boyfriend. Turns out she never actually met this man and this man has little or no means of supporting himself or any girlfriend?

Say the very possible scenario arises where it turns out that you and your girlfriend don't actually like each other very much on you actually meet? She now has no means of support, no accomodation and is effectively destitute in a foreign country?

You think compensation is the way to go here? Am I missing something?

Boombastic

you were treated poorly by staff and more contact info for the relevent people should be available.

Did she have a return ticket?
How long was she staying? How much money did she actually have on her? Who paid for her ticket over?



As a poster above says, what would happen if the two of you had a fight and she was left stranded? Maybe she has a criminal history?

spank_inferno

She's just a tourist, right?

Stinicker

I myself am in a similar enough situation to the OP with a non EU citizen but unlike the OP's American girlfriend will need a Visa to visit Ireland.

I have met her before and spent time with her this summer. I am planning on flying out to her again this spring and spending a week with her. We plan to make her visa application for Ireland when I'm with her as the plan is that she will come to visit Ireland for the 1st time in July or August 2014. Another fact is that this girl's Grandmother is an naturalized Irish Citizen and living here for the last 15 years and I'm not too sure if we should apply on her Visa as her visiting the grandma or coming to see me her Irish male friend.

I have read a few horror stories like the OP's before and it seems that it would be safer if I was to fly in with her on the same flight so as to ensure she is admitted to Ireland, her trip would be for one week or ten days. I can fully understand why the OP's girlfriend was denied entry, has anyone ever watched "Border Patrol", "Customs" or "Nothing to Declare", every single episode features a story like the OP's and while it is hard luck on him, if they try again and do it more thoroughly then she will be granted entry. Best thing is to play by the rules and beat them at their own game.

A problem which I am afraid of is I am not currently working like the OP and this very nearly got me denied entry into the USA a few years ago. I since got an American visa and was let through a few times since with no bother. I was stopped at immigration in Shannon and given a very severe quizzing but I did not lie, get angry and told the truth and I was eventually granted permission to enter. I think my saving grace was the fact that I had $4,000 cash on me; although this is what also drew their suspicions.

Immigration people automatically equate being unemployed to being penniless suspect them of being illegal would-be immigrants and for alot of people this is true but for others it is not the case at all. I am in my mid twenties and have only worked short periods in my life but have traveled to dozens of countries and it is only in developed countries that I even been given grief about my employment. Canada seems to be the worst of all and far worse than the USA. I usually carry a printout of my bank account when going to the states to prove that I have X amount of money, can easily support myself and am most definitely not in need of money should they suspect I am going there to work.

tatli_lokma

What type of visa/entry was she requesting from immigration? How long was she planning to stay? It is very very unusual for an American national entering as a tourist for 90 days or less to be refused. I'm not saying it never happens, but obviously something about her or her demeanour or appearance must have raised alarm bells with the immigration officer.

I don't think you were badly treated by immigration when they phoned you. If she was entering as a tourist, they don't even have to contact you. If they feel she is likely to overstay a 90 day tourist visa and you are her sole source of support and you are out of work and not even in receipt of social welfare it's understandable that they were unwilling to allow her entry. If she was entering as a de facto spouse then the same logic applies and given the lack of proof of the relationship and the fact that your stories didn't tally again is reason enough.

My advice is for you contact the Irish embassy in the USA and apply again for a tourist visa, with a set date of return and a reasonable amount of funds for that period. Or if her intent is to stay in Ireland apply for a defacto visa but be prepared for it taking months with it being an online relationship. .

I have been criticised on other threads by advising caution to people when applying for visa/permission to enter from GNIB, even as a non visa required national. I have been told it's not an issue, no one gets refused if they are non visa required etc. However situation like this just prove that when it comes to immigration it is better to be prepared for every eventuality, have as much documentation as you can get your hands on etc.

Having said that OP I think you need to ask some serious questions about this situation and about her and how she may have presented at immigration as it is very unusual for an American, with somewhere to stay and a return flight not to be permitted to enter as a tourist.

veetwin

@ tatli_lokma; you have been issuing this kind of advice on many threads. It is incorrect. Irish embassies/visa offices do not issue visas to non visa required nationals. The Irish Embassy in the USA will have no bearing or role on whether the OP's friend gets into the state. She might petition the Dept of Justice or the Minister but unless her circumstances changed significantly I could not see this being successful either.

tatli_lokma

veetwin wrote: »

@ tatli_lokma; you have been issuing this kind of advice on many threads. It is incorrect. Irish embassies/visa offices do not issue visas to non visa required nationals. The Irish Embassy in the USA will have no bearing or role on whether the OP's friend gets into the state. She might petition the Dept of Justice or the Minister but unless her circumstances changed significantly I could not see this being successful either.

They can issue advice on applying for a de facto visa. You have also been issuing advice that there is no issue with non visa required nationals entering the state. Clearly this thread proves that on occasion this is not the case and officials can refuse entry if they see fit.

veetwin

tatli_lokma wrote: »

They can issue advice on applying for a de facto visa. You have also been issuing advice that there is no issue with non visa required nationals entering the state. Clearly this thread proves that on occasion this is not the case and officials can refuse entry if they see fit.

De facto visa requires proof of a relationship and generally involves a couple living together for a period of time. Meeting someone online does not count.

Where did I say that there was no issue with non visa required nationals entering the state? Of course officers can refuse any non EEA national. It happens every day. I merely have said that non visa required nationals are never issued with entry visas.

aggiegirl3628

Hiya Guys, I happen to be the scamming girlfriend

I don't think the full story is here that certain assumptions are being made, and of course it's natural for those to occur when the entire story isn't given. So I will answer some questions.

I was just a tourist, and had proof (email itinerary) that I would be returning to the US on January 6th.
I have no criminal history and intend on never having any criminal history.
I completely understand that it was possible that we would not like each other and i could have been left destitute, But when I asked if I could just have 20 mins to contact friends and family for the money, I was denied.( I could have easily gotten more money if I had asked)
I had no intentions on lying to the officer, It was a quick response as he was obviously annoyed of me from the start. I admitted to lying and apologized.
I don't believe my demeanor was bad, I had a smile on my face and answered every question he asked.
The op had been laid off around 2 weeks ago, and has a savings account, he was never asked how much money he had available.
@tatli_lokma I was there when they called the OP, I heard him very rudely ask questions that were seemingly ridiculous ie, "How do you survive"

I am willing to answer anymore questions and even give a full detailed story of my experience. We are not asking for compensation, I'm asking for fairness, because I don't believe it was so.

spurious

Is the OP an Irish/EU citizen? Would that have had a bearing on it?

In my previous life as a couchsurfing host, I often had non-EU people unknown to me on fairly limited budgets to stay. I had a number of phone calls from the guards at the airport, but usually once I explained they were not going to incur any accommodation costs with me, then they were let through. That was a few years ago though, perhaps things are tighter now.