By Tim Harkins

It was 2010 when Shannon Ware, an American citizen, came to Ireland with his wife Kate, a Canadian citizen, and their three daughters on a 90-day tourist visa waiver. It wasn’t long before they’d fallen in love with the country and decided to make their stay more permanent.

“We applied for leave to remain in October 2010 and were given a Stamp 3 visa,” says Shannon, referring to the class of immigration stamp provided by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that permits holders to remain in Ireland on the condition that they do not enter employment, engage in any business or profession or remain later than a specified date.

“After the second year on the Stamp 3,” adds Kate, “we were informed by an immigration officer that the INIS had indicated we should apply for a change of status to a stamp more appropriate to their circumstances.”

One year later, the INIS denied their change of status application. The explanation the Wares received was “insufficient finances”, despite the fact that Shannon works remotely as a Japanese translator, which gives the family income independent of the State.

“The Government doesn’t know how to cope with independent workers,” says Shannon. “They assume everyone works in an office.”

Frustrating and disheartening

The Wares also believe that officials only focused on the family’s leaner times, ignoring instances of higher financial turnover, as freelance income can often tend to ebb and flow throughout the year. 

“We’ve never been a burden to the State financially,” Kate emphasises, going on to suspect INIS officials of mining for “damaging” information on their status, for instance narrowing in on a blog post from 2012 that mentioned the receipt of gifts.

“It is especially frustrating and disheartening since we sought at all times to follow every instruction as laid out to us by the INIS and the GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau),” she says.

After they were turned down by the INIS, the Wares believe they were “retroactively undocumented for the period of time in which our application had been under consideration,” says Kate. This, they add, in spite of them being instructed by the GNIB that it was not necessary to continue getting extension stamps in their passports during that time.

Part of the problem, they point out, seems to be the apparent fluidity of the rules. “Forms in the INIS would seem to change every two weeks,” says Kate with some frustration, adding that it felt like “there was no one person handling the case”.

The Wares firmly believe they are not alone. Shannon mentions comments in online articles about their story that suggest they are not the only people facing similar difficulties with the State’s immigration regime.

Embraced Irish culture

The situation as it stands, now that their visa application has been denied, is that the Wares face removal from the country. Originally given the date of 12 June by which to show proof they have left Ireland, the family appealed in order to let their children finish the school year.

The dilemma has been particularly hard on the Wares’ girls who, despite not being Irish, have fully embraced Irish culture along with their parents – much to the appreciation of their community in Waterville, Co Kerry.

Kate speaks proudly of their daughter Zoe, 11, passing the Aonad exam, which would allow her to complete the Junior Cert through the Irish language. Shannon adds that all of their daughters, who are fluent in Irish, could “very well be the ones teaching the Irish language in the future.”

But unless the INIS makes a decision in their favour, following a meeting with the family on 24 June where they were expected to present five years of financial records, insurance papers and bank statements, their last day in Ireland could be as soon as 2 July.