Ireland Short Stay Visa Waiver and BIVS for UK Visa Holders

TL;DR

Nationals of 22 listed countries who entered the UK on a UK short-stay visit visa can travel on to Ireland for up to 90 days without an Irish visa, if the trip ends before their UK permission does. An ETA, BRP or eVisa does not count. The British Irish Visa Scheme gives residents of India and China one visa for both countries. Last published end date: 31 October 2026, with no extension announced by 23 October 2026.

What the programme does

Immigration Service Delivery's programme page describes it in one sentence: it allows nationals of certain countries who have entered the UK on foot of certain UK short-stay visas to travel to Ireland without the requirement to obtain an Irish visa, using instead the time remaining on their current leave to remain in the UK. It began on 1 July 2011 as a tourism measure and the Embassy of Ireland in Beijing describes it as still in force.

It is a waiver, not a visa. Nothing is issued or applied for and no fee is paid. The traveller shows the Irish immigration officer the passport with the UK visa and UK entry stamp, and the officer decides whether to admit them and for how long.

Who is on the list

The programme covers nationals of 22 countries, grouped by ISD as follows.

• Eastern Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine (Ukrainians have been visa-free since 25 February 2022).
• Middle East: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
• Asia: India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Hong Kong and Macau passport holders are visa-free anyway.
• South America: Colombia and Peru.

Nobody else can use it. ISD's guidance document says plainly that no other nationals may travel to Ireland using a UK visa. A Nigerian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Ghanaian or Egyptian passport holder needs an Irish visa whatever UK visa is in the passport. For them the route is the ordinary one in our guide to Irish visas from the UK.

The conditions

ISD puts the test as three questions, all of which must be yes.

1. Do you have an eligible UK short-stay visa? Visit visas qualify. Transit visas and visas for marriage or civil partnership do not. Long-term visas do not: ISD names long-term student visas and visas to join a spouse or for family reunification, and says that anyone living in the UK on a BRP or any other permission must apply for an Irish visa. Its 2023 guidance defines living in the UK as having leave of more than 180 days.
2. Does your visit to Ireland end before your UK permission ends? The permission is the leave granted by the UK immigration officer when you entered, up to 180 days, not the validity of the visa itself.
3. Was your passport issued by a listed country?

Two further rules follow. You must have landed in and gained lawful entry to the UK on your current visa before travelling to Ireland; you cannot fly to Dublin direct from Mumbai on a UK visa you have never used. Each distinct period of UK leave needs a fresh UK entry before an Irish trip, however long the visa runs. There is no minimum stay in the UK first.

The maximum stay is 90 days or the remainder of your UK permission, whichever is less. ISD's example: 180 days of UK leave with 160 used leaves at most 20 days in Ireland. The officer at the Irish port sets the actual period.

A UK ETA does not count

The UK has replaced visas with Electronic Travel Authorisations for several waiver-list nationalities. ISD is firm: an ETA cannot be used to avail of the programme, and anyone holding an ETA rather than a UK visa needs a separate Irish visa. For Gulf nationals, only a UK short-stay visa issued before the ETA began on 1 February 2024 still works. For Colombians and Peruvians, only a UK visit visa issued before the UK lifted its visa requirement on 9 November 2022 works.

Who lives in the UK cannot use it, but pays no fee

This is the point most searches miss. If you are an Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish or Saudi national living in the UK on a work, student or family visa, with settled status or indefinite leave to remain, the programme does not apply to you. ISD says you must have a valid UK short-stay C visa to use it, and that if you have any other form of permission to live in the UK you will need to apply for a visa to travel to Ireland.

The same page then gives the concession: although you will be required to apply for a visa, you will not have to pay a visa fee, because you are from an eligible country and a long-term legal resident of the UK. ISD's fees page and the Embassy of Ireland in London both list this exemption. You still complete the AVATS form, build the full document pack and attend a VFS centre with your fingerprints, and VFS charges its service fee whether or not you are fee-exempt. The visa office decides your application like any other.

The British Irish Visa Scheme

The British Irish Visa Scheme is a different arrangement, described on ISD's BIVS page and on gov.uk. It lets certain people travel to and around the Common Travel Area, meaning Ireland and the UK but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, on a single visa for short stays. The visa must be endorsed with the letters BIVS; a visa officer decides whether to endorse each eligible visa and there is no appeal against a decision not to.

Eligibility is narrow: Chinese nationals living in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, at the time of application, and Indian nationals living in India at the time of application. Gov.uk adds that applicants for Irish short-stay visas must apply at a joint UK and Irish visa application centre in India or China. A UK resident cannot obtain a BIVS visa in London.

The eligible UK visas are all standard visitor categories with a six-month maximum single visit and Permitted Paid Engagement visas, excluding transit and marriage visitors and unaccompanied children. The eligible Irish visas are visit (family/friend), visit (tourist), conference/event and business. The holder must enter the issuing country first. A single-entry BIVS visa means one entry to the Common Travel Area, within which you may cross between the two countries and leave from either. Stay in Ireland is up to 90 days or to the end of the UK permission, whichever is shorter.

For a UK household: an Indian or Chinese relative visiting you on a BIVS-endorsed UK visitor visa can come to Ireland with you. A relative on an ETA cannot, and nor can you if you live here.

Where the programme stands today

Here is the position exactly, as of 23 October 2026. The live ISD programme page, last updated on 9 May 2025, states no end date. The ISD guidance document linked from that page, dated February 2023, says the programme is to continue until 31 October 2026 and may be amended at any time. The Embassy of Ireland in Beijing says the programme commenced on 1 July 2011 and remains in force. On 23 October 2026 we found no notice on irishimmigration.ie, ireland.ie, gov.ie or gov.uk extending, renewing or ending the programme.

So the programme is in force today, and its last published end date is 31 October 2026, with no extension yet announced. We will update this page the day ISD publishes anything, and we check it on 1 November 2026. If your trip falls after 31 October 2026, read the ISD page before you travel.

Not reciprocal

The programme runs one way. An Irish visa never allows a visa-required national to enter the UK, including Northern Ireland; ISD says so on the programme page and in its FAQ. The only exception is a BIVS-endorsed Irish visa held by someone who applied from India or China and entered Ireland first.

If you do need to apply

If you are a waiver-list national living in the UK, or a national of any other visa-required country, you apply through the Embassy of Ireland's London visa office via a VFS centre in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham or Cardiff. You can do it yourself for the official fees alone: the AVATS form is free, the visa fee is £51 for a single journey or £86 for multiple journeys, or nothing if you are fee-exempt, and VFS charges its service fee. Our free document checklist tool and our Irish visa document guide show what the officer wants to see.

Our desk's prepared-for-you service does the preparation for a £99 service fee, plus £69 for each additional applicant on the same trip up to five: the AVATS form completed with your answers for you to check and sign, the document pack to the ISD and London lists, your appointment booked in your own name within 3 working days of your complete file, subject to availability, or your fee back. Cancel before we start work and you get a full refund. You pay the official fees yourself and the visa office alone decides. The plan step asks the three waiver questions first and tells you, free, if you do not need a visa at all. findmyvisa.co.uk is run by WayaNerd Ltd, company number 16269713.