Pre-Ireland: Part 2 - Tips for Applying

So this brings me to what I came here to talk about: my experience applying for this visa. If anyone is interested, here is all that I know:

In order to qualify for this visa as a US citizen, you must:

-be between the ages of 18 and 30
-be either a current student enrolled in a 4-year degree program, taking a gap year or a recent (within 1 year) graduate of such a program (note: you must ENTER Ireland within one year of graduating; i.e. [hehe] I graduated on May 10th, 2015, and will be entering the country on May 4th, 2016)
-have ~$4000 to your name, in a bank account
-have a passport valid for 6 months AFTER you leave Ireland

Then there's a whole lot of stuff you have to gather FOR the application itself. For example, depending on which consulate you apply to, you need a ~$350 money order for the application, and you need proof of your university status, and you need visa photos to submit. To all you wondering, this worked for me:

I requested official transcripts from my university as proof of my graduation date. I took the visa pictures myself using photo booth on my MacBook, and then edited the size of them to fit the visa photo guidelines for Ireland using GIMP (you can look up what those restrictions are - I can't remember). BUT DO NOT go to a passport photo center - those pictures are different sizes and they often don't take into account the weird restrictions. This link will get you off to a good start: this link
Also, those pictures cost money and it just makes no sense to go to those if you can do it at home. The only thing is that if you print them at home (as opposed to taking them somewhere to get printed) you need to make sure you print them on glossy photo paper. Do not be that person who prints them on normal printer paper and submits warped, flimsy copies to the consulate (they will return them and that could potentially set you back a few weeks). As for my proof of funds, I printed out a bank statement and that seemed to do the trick. Then, you have to print out the application form and fill it out, and you can find that here: here
It's a pretty simple application, you don't need to worry about that part (it's literally the easiest part). And then if you don't already have a CV or resume ready, make that. And there are plenty of resources to help you do that; I'm not going to cover that here.

So get all of that together and just mail it to the consulate nearest you. You do NOT have to apply in person. But just a tip: I did contact them prior to submitting my application and documents just to confirm that I didn't have to apply in person, and they told me to mail my application via FedEx or UPS so as to secure a tracking number - which is a good idea considering you're mailing your passport in with all of that.

AND THEN.....

...you wait.

I submitted my application on 11/25/2015 and when I hadn't heard from them by the beginning of February, I called to ask what was up (it had been 10 weeks at that point). They told me that they had sent me an email at the beginning of January to tell me I had been approved in theory, but as it turns out they got my email address wrong. At that point, it would have been 6 weeks since I submitted my application - so it really shouldn't ever take more than that for them to get back to you. Especially when you consider that I had submitted my application right before the holidays - it really should not take more than 6 weeks, ever.

So when this happens, they simply approve your visa in THEORY. You have a few more steps till it's made official: buying a return airline ticket FROM Ireland, and buying health insurance valid for the entire stay. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS TRICKY.

YOU CANNOT PURCHASE PLANE TICKETS MORE THAN A YEAR IN ADVANCE. So my natural conundrum was, "Uhhh how am I supposed to purchase an airline ticket for something over a year away?" As it turns out, they don't care when your return airline ticket is for - you just need to have one to get you out of the country (this is apparently a common policy in many countries, if you're visiting for a finite period of time). There may be other solutions to this problem, but this was mine: I went to the Aer Lingus website and discovered that they offer something called Flex Fare tickets, which are 100% refundable (save for a ~$40 admin fee or something) and are fully adjustable. They are also more expensive; mine was $950. This is the added price you pay for refundable tickets - a several hundred dollar price increase. So, I purchased a ticket from Dublin to the US for as far out as I could find (and as cheap - I don't care if it's refundable, having my money not in my bank account makes me nervous) and used that as my "return ticket proof." I'm going to wait till I'm in Ireland to refund this, as I am unsure still of whether or not they need proof of this ticket in order to let you into the country. But either way - that's what I did, and I sure as hell wish I had found a blog telling me that was a solution before freaking out over how to deal with this.

The second tricky part: health insurance. I've had enough nightmares with asterisks in health insurance to know that I need to know exactly what I'm signing up for before I just put my faith in the good hearts of insurance brokers. So, after all of my research, I found that IMG International Health Insurance was probably best for me. It will only cost me ~$750 for a full year of coverage, and it also fits what I know tend to be my health pitfalls (like, I have bad teeth and I need dental coverage, which they offer). And they're cheaper than other plans because there are certain things they don't include that I don't feel are necessary for me (like, I have travel insurance through my travel credit card and I don't need an insurance package that includes that). However, this plan covers pre-existing health conditions, so you cannot apply for it more than 30 days before its effective date (as you may get sick between those two times and they want the smallest window possible - THIS IS A GOOD THING THAT THEY ARE CAUTIOUS LIKE THAT). So I faced another problem: how do I get proof of health insurance when the policy I want gets alarmingly close to the date my travels start? My solution was to purchase a plan with World Nomads. It's super easy to sign up for, and you can get a full refund if you cancel the policy within 10 days (so long as the effective date is not within that time frame). And let me say this: I would recommend against World Nomads. You see it advertised on many travel blogger sites, but I think those people might be getting breaks from the company to endorse it. From the reviews I've read from travelers who needed to use the insurance, it is not a good insurance. Plus it costs over $1000, and doesn't cover serious issues that may need immediate attention (like cavities - do you really want to let a cavity rot in your mouth for 7 months because your health insurance doesn't cover that?) but covers other things that you can find other ways of insuring - like flights.

So I essentially purchased a fake flight and a fake insurance plan, submitted those to the consulate via email, and received my official visa in the mail today.