Transit (including Transfer Visa) Advice

All passengers intending to transit through Ireland are advised to check below to see if they require a visa or transit visa for Ireland and should apply for such a visa before travelling to Ireland.

A transit visa is used to allow those nationals who are transit visa required to pass through an Irish airport or seaport to travel to another State, for example, on a connecting flight.

The Minister for Justice may change the status of a country as regards visa requirements for travel to Ireland.

*Travel from Ethiopia to USA or Canada or Ethiopia from USA or Canada, via Ireland.

You do not need an Irish transit visa if you are a citizen of Ethiopia and are travelling on your national passport directly from Ethiopia via Ireland to the United States or Canada. You must have permission to travel to the United States or Canada.

You will not need a transit visa to travel directly from the United States or Canada back to Ethiopia via Ireland. You must have been legally in the United States or Canada at the time of your departure.

Times you would pass through border control would include, but are not limited to:

Before you travel please check with your Airline if you have to pass through border control.

You must apply for a visa from your home country, or a country where you are a legal resident. Prepare your application 3 months before you travel.

Your application has 3 parts:

1. Create a visa application online
2. Pay the visa application fee
3. Send your passport & other documents for processing.

Note: In some cases, you may also need to provide biometric information.

You will be given information about where to send your documents after you create your visa application.

If your application is successful, an Irish visa will be placed into your passport or travel document and returned to you. In general, you can expect a decision about 8 weeks after we receive your documents.

Answer all questions in AVATS fully and honestly.

Payment methods and currency options may differ between offices. Contact your application office to find out how to pay. Some applicants are exempt and do not pay visa fees.

Extra charges may apply for some applications, for example consular fees. The visa fee covers the administrative cost of processing your application. It will not be refunded if your application is withdrawn or refused.

Visa applications are processed in the order they are received. Processing times differ between application offices and application types and may also vary during the year, for example, at holiday periods.

In general, you can expect a decision for a transit visa about 8 weeks after your documents are received.

Note: Your application may take longer if documents are missing, need to be verified or because of personal circumstances, for example if you have a criminal conviction.

An Irish visa will be placed into a blank page of your passport or travel document. Your passport or travel document and certain original documents (for example: marriage, birth or death certificates and other documents listed by you) will be returned to you by post or arranged for collection at an international visa office, Irish Embassy or Consulate.

You will be sent a ‘letter of refusal’ that explains why your application was not approved. Your passport or travel document and certain original documents (for example marriage, birth or death certificates and other documents listed by you) will be returned to you by post or arranged for collection at an international visa office, Irish Embassy or Consulate.

There is no appeal mechanism for short stay visa refusals of this nature. If you have been refused a short stay visa and it is still your intention to travel to Ireland in the future, you will need to make a new visa application. In any such new application, please carefully follow the published guidelines for that category of visas and pay close attention to the refusal reasons set out in the decision letter you received on your previous application.

You are not permitted to enter Ireland for any purpose. You are solely permitted to transit through Ireland in order to reach your country of destination.

If you do not submit the required documentation your application may be refused on the basis of insufficient documentation. It is your responsibility to satisfy the Visa Officer that your visa should be granted for the purpose you have indicated.

The submission of any or all of these documents does not guarantee that your application will be successful.

“Any State issued official documents, such as Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Death Certificates, Divorce Certificates that were issued by a State outside of the EEA or Switzerland, must be attested/apostilled as genuine by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the State that issued the document, in order that it can be accepted as evidence for Irish visa purposes. Such documents are required to be translated into English or Irish, if necessary. Translations done outside the EEA or Switzerland must also be attested/apostilled as genuine, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country in which the translation occurs. Send us both the original documents and the certified translations. Translations done in the EEA or Switzerland do not need to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Any State issued official documents, such as Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Death Certificates, Divorce Certificates that were issued by a State within the EEA or Switzerland do not require to be attested as genuine from Member States. A translation of these documents is not required where a multilingual standard form (MSF) is also provided. Such MSF forms are available from Member States on request. If an MSF is not provided by you then those documents are required to be translated into English or Irish, if necessary in order that it can be accepted as evidence for Irish visa purposes. Translations done outside the EEA or Switzerland must also be attested/apostilled as genuine, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country in which the translation occurs. Translations done in the EEA or Switzerland do not need to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will also accept the Extract of a European marriage certificate, issued in accordance with the “Convention on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records“, as proof of a marriage within the EEA or Switzerland. Send us both the original documents and the certified translations.”

We will return original documents such as marriage, birth and death certificates to you after your application is processed.

If there are other documents you want returned, type or write a list of the documents you want and:

Your application may be refused if you do not submit all documents. Even if you submit everything required, there is no guarantee that a visa will be granted.

When you are satisfied that you have prepared your application documents, put them into a strong padded envelope and submit them to your application office. Details of how to submit your documents will be provided in your application summary sheet. This may be in person or by post. If you are making a visa application for yourself and another person, you may send them together.

If submitting by post, be sure to pay the correct postage for large packages.

A transit visa application for a young person (aged under 18) should be made by their parent or legal guardian. The process follows the same steps described above with some extra conditions (as below) to protect the young person’s safety.