Irish consul(ate) abroad not issuing receipts for visa fees

Y

Yachtie

Registered User
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I'll give you a bit of a background first.

My sister in law is a citizen of a small European but non-EU country and therefore requires a tourist visa for Ireland. When she applied online as instructed by the consulate staff, the message on the bottom clearly stated that the citizens of this country are not liable for visa fees (€60 per application) but that the consulate may apply a small administration charge. To me, a small administration charge would imply something like €20.

However, my sister in law had to pay €60 administration fee for which she did not even get a receipt. Not even a hand written scrap of paper!

I am absolutely livid about this. Can anyone advise if such things are common practice in consular departments abroad or should I ring somebody in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and complain. I am not so much against the fee but would prefer to know for certain that it's gone to the MOFA rather than straight into 'honorary' consul's pocket.
 
In the case of small countries with no Irish embassy, the Honorary Consul is often an Irish person living in the country and not an employee of the Dep of Foreign affairs and does not get a salary. I am open to correction, but in these cases, the Honorary Consul does keep the fee, as they are not paid by the Irish Gov to provide the service.

Of course, if your sister-in-law is unhappy by how she was treated, she should complain to the Dep of Foreign Affairs.
 
There are also Honorary Consuls in countries where we have diplomatic missions, typically in cities outside the capital.

If your sister-in-law is monegasque, her €60 went to Michael Smurfit.
 
gabsdot said:
Are you talking about the Irish consulate in another country?
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Yes, it's an Irish consulate.

huskerdu said:
In the case of small countries with no Irish embassy, the Honorary Consul is often an Irish person living in the country and not an employee of the Dep of Foreign affairs and does not get a salary. I am open to correction, but in these cases, the Honorary Consul does keep the fee, as they are not paid by the Irish Gov to provide the service.

Of course, if your sister-in-law is unhappy by how she was treated, she should complain to the Dep of Foreign Affairs.
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Thanks for that huskerdu! I am really puzzled by the fact that the visa fee which was chargeable by the MOFA last year was €60 and NO admin fee (so the consul either didn't get paid or got paid by the MOFA). This year when MOFA have stopped charging visa fees, the consul is charging €60 admin. I am getting more and more confused by the minute.
 
Yachtie said:
... should I ring somebody in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and complain. ...
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We don't have any of those yokes, we can only afford "Departments", usually pronounced "Diparrtmints", like this one. Michéal in the DFA will be delighted to hear from you I'm sure. :)
 
mathepac said:
We don't have any of those yokes, we can only afford "Departments", usually pronounced "Diparrtmints", like this one. Michéal in the DFA will be delighted to hear from you I'm sure. :)
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Fair enough, but what should Mr Martin be called then? If it's not the Ministry, how can he be a minister? ;)
 
Just because she didn't get a receipt doesn't mean there's a fiddle going on.

Did she ask for a receipt?
 
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