What to bring to your first registration appointment

The short version

• Your passport, with the landing stamp for the permission you’re registering.
• Your entry visa for that permission, if you need a visa.
• Proof of your address in Ireland.
• The documents for your permission, such as your employment permit or your college letter.
• Medical insurance, for most permissions.
• A card for the €300 fee, unless you’re exempt.
• Your sponsor, if your permission depends on someone else.

Bring originals. ISD says a registration won’t be completed without every required document.

Build your list

Choose your permission. You’ll get the full list for it, with tick boxes and a copy button.

What everyone brings

• Passport. It must have the landing stamp for the permission you’re registering. If you came in through Northern Ireland, you still need one: report to an immigration officer first. At the appointment, the officer takes your passport while your registration is processed, then gives it back stamped.
• Entry visa, if you’re from a visa-required country: the one that matches the permission you’re registering.
• Preclearance, if your permission needs it, for example as a minister of religion or volunteer. It must have been approved before you came.
• Proof of address in Ireland. ISD doesn’t list which documents count for a first registration: bring an original in your name.

Your permission isn’t tied to your passport, but if it would end after your passport expires, ISD may register you only until the passport’s expiry date.

Medical insurance

Most permissions need it. ISD’s lists use the same wording:

• private medical insurance, or travel insurance with medical cover;
• covering accidents and medical incidents, including hospital stays in Ireland;
• valid for 12 months, or your whole stay if that’s shorter, with the dates on it;
• an original policy document in your name.

For Stamp 0 (for example, people of independent means), ISD asks for private medical insurance only, not travel insurance. Cash-back policies aren’t accepted. And at renewal, some permissions need private medical insurance: travel insurance isn’t enough.

Students

• Your course must have started before you register. Your college letter must be dated on or after the start date.
• Fees: paid in full if they’re under €6,000. If they’re more, you must have paid at least €6,000, and it should show on your letter of enrolment.
• If you didn’t need a visa, you also show you had access to money when you arrived: €10,000 for courses giving more than 8 months’ residence, or €833 a month (€6,665 in total) for shorter ones.
• If you’re 16 or 17, a parent or guardian comes with you.

The fee

The fee is €300 per person, paid by credit or debit card, including contactless. Cash isn’t accepted. You don’t pay if you’re registering as:

• someone under 18;
• the spouse, civil partner, widow, widower or surviving civil partner of an Irish citizen;
• the spouse or dependant of an EU citizen who has a residence permit;
• a refugee, someone with subsidiary protection or permission to remain, or a family member reunited with a refugee;
• someone granted a change of permission because of domestic violence.

Who comes with you

• Your sponsor, if your permission depends on them: for example your partner, or your Irish spouse. ISD says they must attend.
• A parent or guardian, if you’re a student aged 16 or 17.
• A friend to help translate, if you’d like one, and your children if you don’t have childcare.

Every permission, at a glance

The same lists as the builder above, for reference.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources