Ireland Visa from the UK 2026: Who Needs One, How to Apply

TL;DR

If you live in the UK on a passport that Ireland lists as visa-required, a visit to Ireland needs a short-stay C visa. You complete the AVATS form online, pay the £51 single-entry fee unless you are exempt, and lodge the signed form, your documents and your fingerprints at a VFS centre in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham or Cardiff. The London visa office targets 45 days. British, Irish and EU citizens need nothing.

Who needs an Irish visa from the UK

Ireland decides by nationality, not by where you live. The Embassy of Ireland in London puts it bluntly on its Visas for Ireland page: possession of a residence permission in the UK has no bearing on the requirement for a visa to travel to Ireland. A UK work visa, student visa, family visa, settled status or indefinite leave to remain does not change the answer.

Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) publishes the list of visa-required nationalities. Among the passports most common in UK households it includes Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, China, the Philippines, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nepal, Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand. If your passport is on that list you need a visa before any trip to Ireland, a weekend as much as a month.

The right visa for a holiday, a family visit or a trip to see friends is the short-stay C visa. It covers stays of up to 90 days and allows no paid or unpaid work. Business and conference trips use the same C category with a different checklist; this page is about visits.

Who does not need one

British and Irish citizens travel freely between the two countries under the Common Travel Area, which gov.uk describes in its CTA guidance. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no visa. Nor do nationals on Ireland's visa-free list, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, the UAE, Israel, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR.

Two schemes let some UK visa holders visit Ireland without an Irish visa. Under the Short Stay Visa Waiver Programme, nationals of 22 listed countries (India, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states among them) who entered the UK on a UK short-stay visit visa can travel on to Ireland for up to 90 days, as long as the trip ends before their UK permission does. Under the British Irish Visa Scheme, Indian and Chinese nationals living in India or China can hold one visa, endorsed BIVS, for both countries. Our waiver programme guide explains the conditions and where the programme stands today.

Neither scheme helps someone who lives in the UK on a BRP or eVisa; ISD says they must apply for an Irish visa, though waiver-list nationals pay no visa fee. If you fall into any no-visa group, stop here. There is nothing to buy from us or from anyone else.

Ireland is not Schengen

An Irish visa does not permit travel to the Schengen Area, and a Schengen visa does not permit travel to Ireland. A trip covering Dublin and Paris needs two visas and two appointments. Our Schengen guide for UK residents covers the other half.

The three steps

ISD's how-to-apply page sets out three steps.

1. AVATS. Create the application on the Automated Visa Application and Tracking System. Select Short Stay (C), single or multiple journey, and your reason for travel, which for a holiday is Visit Tourist and for seeing relatives is Visit Family/Friend. Answer every question fully and honestly. Print, sign and date the Application Summary Form; it tells you where to submit. Every traveller needs their own form, and a parent or guardian completes a child's.
2. Fee. Since 28 September 2026, applicants creating an Irish visa application either claim an exemption or pay the fee online, and anyone submitting through VFS in the UK must select United Kingdom as their current location. The Embassy page also says payment is taken at the VFS centre, so be ready for either.
3. Lodge. Residents of England, Scotland and Wales submit the signed form, the supporting documents and their biometric data at one of five VFS centres: London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham or Cardiff, by appointment only. Residents of Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man post the application to the Embassy's Visa Office in London by tracked mail. Our appointment guide walks through the day.

You can apply up to three months before travel, and ISD recommends doing so three months ahead. You must apply from the country where you ordinarily live: the Embassy in London only accepts applications from people legally resident in the UK, and someone here on a visit visa cannot use it.

The fee in pounds, and who pays nothing

ISD's fees page sets the fee at EUR 60 for a single entry and EUR 100 for multiple entries. The London visa office charges it in sterling: £51 for a single-journey visa and £86 for a multiple-journey visa, with figures that move when exchange rates do. The fee is an administration fee and is not refunded if the application is refused or withdrawn.

Several groups pay nothing. Nationals of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Jamaica, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and a handful of Balkan countries are exempt outright. So are spouses and under-18 children of Irish citizens, qualifying family members of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens travelling with them, and nationals of the Short Stay Visa Waiver Programme countries who are long-term legal residents of the UK. That last group is large: an Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Thai or Vietnamese national with a UK eVisa pays no Irish visa fee at all. Nigerian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi applicants pay the full fee.

VFS Global charges its own service fee at the centre whether or not you are fee-exempt. The amount is on the VFS booking page; we do not quote it. Whatever you pay in official and centre fees, you pay directly. None of it passes through us.

How long it takes

The Embassy of Ireland publishes target processing times for its London visa office: 45 days for a visit visa, 21 days for business, conference and exam visas. The clock starts when the application reaches the Embassy's consular section, usually one working day after a London VFS appointment and two working days after Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham or Cardiff. ISD's wider guidance says to expect a decision within approximately 8 weeks. Files take longer when documents are missing or need verifying.

Both say not to pay for travel before you have a decision, and the Visa Office accepts no liability for losses. ISD does not expedite applications except in rare cases such as a hospitalised relative in Ireland. Track the application through an account on ISD's customer portal.

What the visa office asks for

The ISD list and the Embassy's own visit visa checklist both apply. In outline: your passport valid for six months after you leave Ireland with two blank pages, every previous passport or an explanation, two photos to ISD's rules, proof of your UK permission valid for at least three months after your return, a signed letter of application, bank statements, an employer or college letter, three payslips, and either accommodation bookings or an invitation letter from your host with a copy of their ID. Every previous visa refusal from any country must be declared with its letter; concealing one means refusal. Travel insurance need not be submitted but can be requested and is a condition of entry. Our document checklist goes through each item, and the Bundler and Compressor help you assemble a clean file.

If you are refused

The refusal letter sets out the reasons. Since 1 June 2026 there is no appeal against a short-stay visa refusal, except for family members of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens applying under the Free Movement Directive. The route forward is a new AVATS application that answers each reason, with a new fee unless you are exempt. Read what a refusal means now before you pay again.

Doing it yourself, or with us

You can do all of this yourself for the official fees alone. The AVATS form is free to complete, the visa fee is £51 or £86 at the London office or nothing if you are exempt, and VFS charges its service fee. Nothing else is required.

If you would rather not spend the evenings on it, our prepared-for-you Irish visa service completes the AVATS form with your answers and gives it back to you to check and sign, builds the document pack to the ISD list and the London checklist, writes the letter of application with you, books your VFS appointment in your own name, and briefs you for the day. The service fee is £99, plus £69 for each additional applicant on the same trip up to five. Your file is prepared within 24 hours of your complete documents and details, and your appointment is booked within 3 working days of your complete file, subject to availability, or your service fee back. Cancel before we start work and you get a full refund. You pay the visa fee and the VFS fee yourself, you attend the centre yourself, and the visa office alone decides. Start at the plan step, which tells you plainly if you do not need a visa at all.

findmyvisa.co.uk is run by WayaNerd Ltd, company number 16269713. We are not the Irish Government, the Embassy of Ireland or VFS Global.