niyogeol:
Hello guys,

I'm pleased to write a few survival tips for fellows coming to start their studies in Island of Eire - Ireland in the coming days. First let me congratulate you on your offer and consequent visa approval. I know and understand the feeling.

What I have to share might not be new or strange to some fellows, but I believe it will still help in it own little way.

Fun fact: what I share here is based on my view and knowledge. It is not a one size fit all approach. Straight to business. *Long post alert*

Travel preparations and Arrival.

I'm certain many will be bothered about what to buy and what not to buy. My advice is for you to buy what is more important to you than filling your box with things you can easily get here. For lovers of home made naija food, please endeavour to get more of those than clothings. Aside the food, another important thing for you is to get warm clothings as winter is almost upon us. It is cheaper for you to buy in naija.

Now that you have sort your luggage, I think its time to get a flight, right? This might be the first time having to book a flight for some while others might have been doing this for a while. No worries, I believe there is always a first time for everything. For most guys, including myself, what I look out for in booking flight is cost and waiting time for connecting flight as direct flight to Dublin could be very expensive in case you're lucky to find one. From my observation, it is cheaper to book through third parties like travelstat, wakanow or Expedia than booking directly through the airline website. Also ensure to confirm price between third parties - companies mentioned above before settling for one as there is usually disparity in price between travel companies getting customers for the same airline. In some cases as much as #40,000. Now that flight ticket is settled, you need to make plans for where to stay for the interim if your school didn't offer you accommodation. The practice usually is to get a place in the numerous hostels offering short stay accommodation before getting yourself a place. For those who have friends or relatives that are providing accommodation, whether short term or otherwise, you are very lucky I must say. The way to go about booking the accommodation most times is through hostelworld or booking.com. Google search will show you listings based on price and services rendered by the various hostels otherwise called backpackers place. Ensure to keep your documents (if possible retain all the documents you used for the visa application) in your hand luggage as some immigration officers might request for some of it at the point of entry. Some questions students are often asked are: what school are you attending, where will you be staying, Do you have health insurance, What course will you be studying, How much do you have with you. Can I see the money - some usually collect and count the money - I have seen queries here about the pta as it is fondly called. It is safe to have at least €2000 with you. After the officer is satisfied, you will be documented - your finger print and picture will be taken and your passport stamped. You will be told to book appointment with GNIB to register your residency before the end of the date stamped on your passport. Now you will be allowed to go through and pickup your luggage from the carousel and proceed to arrival lounge. At this point, I can officially tell you "failte to Eire" - in English, welcome to Ireland.

Now you are outside the airport, what next? For folks who have people waiting to pick them up, you have no challenge whatsoever. And for folks who don't have anyone to pick them, you still need to forge on as your survival has commenced. Basically your journey from the airport is to where you have made plans to stay put, or to other cities for those going to Cork, Galway, Limerick or Tralee. For those commuting to Dublin, your best bet is to take Dublin bus - "Bus 16, and Bus 41" goes from the airport to the city centre. Though you could take taxi if you have the money to play with as taxi is not cheap here. For those travelling to other major cities, like I mentioned earlier, you are better going with 'Aircoach' a private bus company based outside the airport, or travel via train. If you choose to go with the later, you need to get to Heuston train station to connect one. You could connect Heuston train station from the airport via 'Bus 746 - I'm not too sure of this at this point though, but whatever destination a bus is heading is usually written digitally in front of the bus'. But don't fail to ask questions if you think you are not getting it right. So for guys that will be travelling on Dublin bus, ensure you get a ticket at the vending machine outside the airport as only travel card and coins are accepted on the bus. The airport and buses have free wifi, so you could reach your loved ones that you arrived safely, and also use it to navigate Google maps. With all these said, I believe you should be fine getting to your temporary residence.

After the long flight, you must be hungry, coupled with the kind of food served on the flight might not be satisfying due to what is on offer. There is a Nigerian restaurant on Parnell Street, very close to "O'connel street - albeit most popular bus-stop in Ireland", where you will get most naija food you could think of. I advice naija food because its almost the same cost with burger or any other foreign food you could have at your disposal on arrival. Before getting out to eat, endeavour to have gotten to your temporary accommodation. Most hostels offering short term stay are around the city centre, and as such within walking distance to the naija restaurant.

Searching for accommodation, bank account opening, registration with GNIB and other related matters

Most backpackers place sell sim cards, you should endeavor to get one, mostly Lyca mobile is what most Naija people buy. The subscription is 15 Euro monthly which comes with unlimited voice calls to all network in Ireland, unlimited sms, and 10GB of data. Other network providers include '3', Tesco, Virgin mobile et al. '3' has the best network but the subscription is 30 Euro. I guess you now see reason why people go for Lyca mobile. There is no need for sim registration before usage. You really need this subscription on your phone as you will be making calls to houses advertised on the internet.

Before getting on the accommodation search journey, endeavor to get a student leap card at Dublin bus office on O'Connel street or at a designated point in your school as they normally have a place there when school resume newly. The leap card will offer you the opportunity of not spending more than 5 euro a day no matter how much you travel on Dublin bus or 7.50 euro a day if you use train coupled with the bus.

Getting an accommodation is about the toughest part of what you will be facing on settling down at your temporary residence. Most places are also over priced. As a room in a shared flat could be as high as 700 Euro monthly. But getting a place is a matter of determination and persistence by checking websites like daft.ie, rent.ie, hosting power or any platform as recommended by your school for new listing posted on the aforementioned websites. There are also agencies that assist with getting a place - this agencies charge as much as 200 Euro for their services. The search for accommodation is real, and some home owners are not usually willing to rent their place to naija people. What some folks do to get away with this is saying they come from neighboring African countries - like I always tell my friends, being from naija is about the toughest thing in the world. If you are lucky to get appointment for viewing a place like they say here, you should ensure you visit the place as soon as possible as other people might have been scheduled to come see the place too. It is important to ensure whatever accommodation you settle for is on a frequent bus route to your school. As some buses on a specific route comes once every hour. I believe you don't want to be on such bus route. Once you ascertain you like the house and that the house is on a frequent bus route, you can pay to the landlord and get key to the place. Don't ever pay rent to for a house you have not seen! Some home owners might request for deposit which in most cases is usually the same amount as the rent. Need I say, ensure you understand the contract the landlord is presenting you. Clarify or seek to change the status of whichever you are not comfortable with. Some landlord don't allow tenants have anyone visit them at home or spend the night without their consent especially for homes occupied by the owner.

Once accommodation is sorted, you need to register the address on your school registration portal and get a document they call certificate of attendance. The next thing to do after this is to open a bank account. The choice of bank is dependent on some factors. Some schools usually require their students to open account with a specific bank while some students opt for bank close to them. The requirements mainly for opening a bank account is your international passport and certificate attendance from your school. After you open the account, it takes some few days for it to be activated. You can only make deposit into the account when it has been activated. Your bank will send you an email in respect to that. You need to lodge in your cash at this point as your bank statement is needed for the GNIB registration. ATM card for your account will be sent to the address you open the account with, so ensure you don't use the address of the place you stayed temporarily.

Now that bank account is sorted, the next thing to do is to book appointment with GNIB for your residency registration. This could also be a pain to get one. But an app could help in this regard. The app is called GNIB - Ireland. It can be downloaded from Google play for android users or apple store or what it is called for i-phone users. On filling your personal details on the app and turning on the notification, you will be sent available appointments date from time to time. Once you are able to book an appointment, the require documents you need to take along for your appointment include: international passport, admission letter from your school, certificate of attendance, proof health insurance, bank statement and your debit card as you have to pay 300 euro for the card that will be issued to you - Irish Residence Permit card. They don't accept cash! Other channel for payment is through bank giro which takes about 5 working days to go through. I won't advice you follow this route. After the successful registration at the GNIB, your card will be sent to your address within 5 working days.

It is important to get registered with GNIB before school starts as you don't want to bother yourself with such by the time lectures starts.

That is all for now.

I will discuss on PPS number, and how to get a part time job later.

Cheers and welcome to Ireland once again.

totally appreciated your list, waiting for the discussion on getting a part time job

Orofun1:
I am àn MSC as well as a PhD applicant

hi,pls tell me what steps you are taking to secure admission, I'm very new to this wholestuff

Chinlov:


Hi I'm a PhD applicant. We can collaborate. I will send you an email

thanks Chinlov, totally appreciate

Chinlov:
Pls do we have any PhD applicants on this thread? It would be nice to rub minds and share tips!

good question chinlov, I'm new to this thread and thanking God I found it. Pls is there any PhD applicant here, I'm hoping to apply for a PhD in education or psychology in Ireland and it would welcome any useful info. Thank you

I did get a gig last year as the head of the counselling unit in private university but before I could even resume, they said the senate had a meeting and decided that they don't need a Guidance Counsellor yet (very painful) but it made me believe if I could go for that interview then I'm worthy of greater things cos the Vc shook my hand saying he was very impressed with my person and work. He promised to give a call anytime the senate changes their tune and that he has my CV( i intend to make sure he doesn't forget me anyways, he will get texts for every festive season) long story short, I worked as a literature and English language teacher full time in a private school till my second semester exams were about to start in Nov this year. It wasn't easy cash wise and all but I thank God. I'm currently starting my thesis and hopefully a new job ( for the mean time) as a phonetics consultant in another secondary school. I'm a Sistah not a bro.

onlyme07:

Awesome profile you have there,but its a pity most of the openings in our tertiary institutions are rarely advertised and if advertised,they already have slots.

However, there are vacancies virtually in all the new approved Universities,you just need to take the bull by the horn.you just have start looking for the links available. Also by going undercover in any the govt owned institutions to understand how you can get a place or you check all these affliated campuses to drop your CV.

All the best bro..!

If I may ask,where are you doing your PhD?

I'm doing my PhD at the university of Benin,thanks for the advice, really liked the part about going undercover in govt owned institutions. I'm a sistah by the way.

Hi everyone, I'm so glad I found this link. I have a second class upper degree in English Education, a masters in counselling psychology in Education and I'm runing a PhD in counselling psychology in education. I'm seriously seeking a position as a lecturer.

[quote author=kingchukwudi post=63387325]
U can't apply online except by hard copies just I don't knw if it can be feasible.[/quote. Im also quite sceptical about its feasibility but I know I would really feel bad if there was a chance and i couldn't take advantage of it, hence the reason why I still intend to try

kingchukwudi:

U can't apply online except by hard copies just I don't knw if it can be feasible.

mailing hard copies via DHL tomorrow morning

opy002:
The advert was posted on a job website on the 4th of December, and according to this job website, they said that the deadline is 21th of December...I don't know where u got your information from that the advert was out 2 months ago anyway

I checked it a few days back and it said it closes on the 22nd of December. I also did see the application closed stuff on line as well and I'm confused. A friend whose in academic business is however telling me to still apply

kingchukwudi:
still on the application
but want to apply online

hi, I'm also trying to apply online, were you successful with your application?