Permission to Remain in Ireland

I dont think two people having 10,000 euros each is necessarily proof of self-sufficiency.

By the way, could these guys just stay for 90 days, fly to London, get a stamp for six months in the UK, then promptly fly to Belfast and train back into the Republic, stay for just under six months, go back to Britain via Belfast, then fly back to the Republic and get 90 more days?

That basically covers a year. It's Ireland, they can't be too uptight about having a couple of Americans around.

Actually, I'm American and back in 2004 I flew between London and Dublin without even having a passport. My passport was at the Russian embassy in London awaiting a visa. I got on a plane to Dublin using my U.S. driver's license as photo ID, or maybe they never even asked for photo ID. Then when the plane landed in Dublin, there was a passport checking line for foreign passports , but there was also a uniformed man pointing away from the passport line saying "British or Irish? British or Irish? Just walk right through." So I mumbled "Oirish" and walked through. Then later I just re-entered the UK via the train to Belfast.

So I don't know that these guys even need to deal with the hassle of getting proper immigration permission. They should just shuttle back and forth as needed between the Republic and the UK and in the unlikely event that it draws attention they should just pretend to be dumb Americans.

Post #10 is so clearly wrong that I wonder if it is a wind-up!

Mattv, since you made the journey between the UK and Ireland without even showing your passport (much less getting it stamped), surely it is obvious even to you that a visitor cannot get more time by making this journey. They would need to leave the Common Travel Area (perhaps by going to France) and then return. Immigration would of course see how long they had spent away from the USA and ask them all sorts of questions about their plans and their source of income. Depending on those answers, they might well decide not to let them back into Ireland or the UK, and since these two countries share immigration computer systems a refusal by one country would almost certainly mean that they could not enter the other one either.

And I doubt whether #9 would be much use: I know that the UK visitors' visa, valid for up to six months, cannot be extended under any circumstances.

Danzarely, here are three different ways of interpreting what you have posted. Distinguish which applies to you, since the visa rules would be different in each case:
(i) The business in the USA runs itself and you just live off the income, like someone enjoying a trust fund;
(ii) The business in the USA requires active management, and so while in Ireland you are working by email or whatever, but all earnings come from the USA and that is where you pay your taxes;
(iii) The business partly operates in Ireland, and so you will be living on earnings that are partly made there (and so will in effect be working in Ireland).

And there is nothing stupid about the rules: what you are doing is clearly different from taking a holiday that is a bit longer than 90 days.

Hi.... *danzarely.

Have you thought of asking your nearest Consulate to give you advice on this matter?
You say you've looked on-line with no success, then give 'em a call or pop in - if you have one locally.
They should be able to answer all your questions in full.
Best of luck with everything.

The question really is, why exactly do you want to stay in Ireland so long? This is what Immigration will want to know. Just 'visiting a friend' isn't a rational explanation - only an extraordinary friend would be prepared to accommodate two visitors for up to a year in their home. And if you are not working, what exactly are you going to be doing? It's not that I want to know, but the Immigration people will certainly want to.

The op should know that it is no longer possible to fly from the UK to Dublin without showing photo id and passing through immigration control on arrival. You'll get three months stamped in your passport, if you are non EU or EEA , but in some cases a lot less.
However, if you already have a six month UK stamp this will still be valid, and there is no systematic immigration control flying back from Ireland to UK, only spot checks. So you could legally stay in Ireland for six months by traveling back to the UK as required.

The Northern Ireland land border is a very feasible, though illegal, way of avoiding Irish immigration altogether. You could also chance it at Dublin sea port where I have managed to walk straight past the checkpoint with a judicious nod of the head and a "how are ya." Neither method will allow you to stay for a year.

You need Permission to Remain, but resources of 30,000 US dollars for two people will not impress and is less than what two unemployed people would get in social welfare in a year. Good luck if you try. At the very least be able to show solid evidence of an obligation to return home.

The op should know that it is no longer possible to fly from the UK to Dublin without showing photo id and passing through immigration control on arrival

Good shout.
Incidentally, a photocard driving licence is not widely accepted either.

#13- Well said.

#11 - it wasn't a wind up, I really did fly into Dublin without a passport, but I accept that I probably got really lucky walking through the British/Irish common travel line just holding a Nevada driver's license in my hand that no one ever checked.

I didnt know that the two countries have common immigration computers and that you can't spend six months in UK and then immediately go for ninety days in Ireland, but I will defer to the expertise of the British and Irish on the board here.

I thought the fact that the border between Ireland and the UK is unpatrolled could come in handy for the two "visiting" Americans, but maybe it won't.

Hey - occasionally there are stories of people being let on without 'Officially. having the right docs.
best not risk it though.
A "No, you're not travelling with us today" - can be both expensive and very painful.

Well certainly the NI route from Dublin to Donegal is never checked....that I have experienced!

Sadly, there are sometimes spot checks between NI and the Republic, and some travellers have suffered after being caught without the necessary documentation. Don't believe anyone who says that checks "never" happen.

The more fundamental point: I thought that the original question was about how the OP could get permission to do what they want to do. There are all sorts of loopholes in the official controls meaning that it would be possible to stay illegally, but this would have two serious disadvantages: the strong probability of major problems when the time came to leave again, and the fact that health and other insurance would be invalid during the illegal stay.