AVATS Proposed Travel Dates: Ireland Visa Form Checklist

AVATS proposed travel dates are intended entry and departure dates, not a promise that a flight has been purchased. For most short-stay C applications, enter both and compare them with the real purpose, invitation, stay and return plan before pressing Submit.

This guide follows a fictional applicant from editable draft to submitted summary. If your visa category or application office requests travel evidence, use a current, accurately labelled reservation only where it fits the checklist; check BookForVisa’s current price and validity rather than relying on a fixed offer.

What Are Proposed Travel Dates in an AVATS Application?

AVATS is the official online data-entry system for Irish visa applications, and an application begins at visas.inis.gov.ie/avats. Every answer goes in English, using standard characters.

The AVATS online form works as the Ireland visa application form: what you type becomes the printed summary sheet that travels with your documents. Inside it, one page is called Proposed Dates, and it turns your trip into two calendar entries.

Short-stay visa applications require both intended arrival and departure dates. You give the date you intend to enter Ireland and the date you intend to leave Ireland. On a multiple-entry application, the leaving date belongs to your first trip. The Ireland Single Journey Visa allows stays up to 90 days, and it covers one trip only.

Format comes next. AVATS requires dates to be entered in the DD/MM/YYYY format, and travel dates entered into AVATS should be in logical sequence and valid calendar dates. The system refuses invalid entries, but it cannot tell whether a valid date is the one you meant. Closing that gap is your job.

AVATS assigns an eight-digit application number and lets an applicant return to a saved, unfinished form within 30 days. That saved-draft period is not the same thing as every visa category’s supporting-document deadline after an application is created.

Two exceptions exist. For long-stay visas, the departure date may be left blank depending on circumstances, and the same applies to certain family members of EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens staying beyond 90 days. Every other short-stay C applicant must enter a leaving date.

This guide stays with a short stay visit. Business visas, conference entries, and study applications use the same date fields, but they ask different questions around them. Short stay visas for tourism and visits to friends follow the route described here.

Accuracy in travel dates is critical to avoid application processing delays. Proposed travel dates must match supporting documents to prevent application refusal on grounds of inconsistency, although a match promises nothing about the decision. That is why the two AVATS dates act as the master copy for everything else.

The AVATS date fields themselves do not require a paid flight. A family/friend short-stay guide advises applicants not to buy travel tickets before a decision. Follow the document list for the actual visa category and office.

Which AVATS Fields and Documents Carry Your Dates?

Your two AVATS dates reappear in at least five other places. The table lists each one, what it has to show, and who produces it, so you can see where a slip would start.

The two AVATS proposed dates are editable before Submit but not afterward. Use the summary review to compare them with the invitation, stay and return plan; supporting letters should describe the same real trip, not merely copy a mistaken form entry. For broader reservation-versus-ticket planning after you settle the AVATS dates, see the BookForVisa flight-reservation guide. It does not replace AVATS instructions.

The passport row rewards arithmetic. A valid passport must have at least 6 months validity, and for a short stay visit that means six months after the date you plan to leave Ireland, not six months from today. Shift your leaving date by a week and a borderline passport can fall short. Send copies of previous passports too.

The official family/friend visit guide calls for supporting documents within 30 days of creating an AVATS application. Other categories and offices may have their own submission instructions; use the application summary and do not confuse this with the unfinished-form save period.

Several rows carry a name or number from the same application. Two recent passport photos go in with your signature on the back and your application transaction number beside it. Print and sign the summary sheet yourself, then keep a copy.

Money follows journey type. The visa fee for a short stay visa is €60 for single entry and €100 for multiple entry, and it is not refunded if you withdraw or are refused. Payment methods and any proof of payment differ between offices, so ask yours how to pay. Extra fees, such as consular charges, can apply.

Your documents go to the office on the summary sheet. That could be the Dublin visa office, an international visa office, or an Irish embassy or consulate, depending on where you apply from. Some offices send files on to another office, so the visa is not always decided where you hand it in.

Applications require proof of accommodation and sufficient funds, and both carry dates of their own.

Bank statements and travel insurance follow looser rules than dates. There is no minimum balance, and insurance can wait until an officer asks or until you reach the port of entry with an approved visa. Their dates still need to fit your story: statements cover the months before you apply, and cover should span your stay.

The wider pack, including funds and accommodation proof, is covered in our Ireland tourist visa documents checklist. This guide stays with the dates.

How Should You Settle Your Dates Before Opening the Form?

Settle the dates on paper first, because the form will not let you rehearse. Start with the constraint you control least, usually your host's availability or your employer's leave, and fit the others inside it.

A private date-change log can help you audit drafts, but Irish immigration does not require every applicant to submit such a log. The submitted form and supporting documents should reflect one current truthful plan.

Ask your host for the invitation letter well in advance of opening the form. It must state the dates they plan to see you and, for a stay in their home, the dates you are invited to stay and their full postal address. A host who is guessing at dates will produce a letter you have to redo.

Then test the window against your passport and the calendar. Count six months from your leaving date and confirm the passport outlasts it.

Count back from your arrival date to find the earliest day you can apply. Users are advised to apply for short-stay visas up to 90 days before intended travel dates, which is also the three-month preparation window for a visit visa.

Timing at the other end needs equal care. You must apply at least 6–8 weeks before travel, and short-stay visa processing typically takes 4–8 weeks, with visit visas usually decided about eight weeks after your documents arrive. Offices differ, and processing can slow in busy periods such as holidays, so the safe plan is to apply long before the minimum.

Starting early gives time to review documents, but AVATS should contain the best current dates you can defend. The three-month application window and the document-submission instructions for your category both matter; do not invent placeholder dates to secure a place in a queue.

For the visit category discussed here, Irish guidance advises against buying tickets before a decision. If the office asks for proposed travel proof, compare the issuer’s actual validity and change terms. Do not assume unlimited revisions, immediate delivery or that an optional reservation is mandatory. A dummy ticket can be a temporary travel-plan record where relevant, not an AVATS field or paid boarding entitlement.

Route matters when you do not travel directly from home. If your journey passes through the UK, which shares the Common Travel Area with Ireland, the visit guidance asks for a letter describing your travel plan and whether you need visas for those countries. That letter joins your pack and does not change the two AVATS dates.

Treat any snippet summarized by Meta AI, and any forum answer, as a pointer only. Read the official guidance for your own application type before you type a date.

The visa application process differs by reason for travel, and the relevant documentation page for your category is the one that counts. We advise reading it twice: once before you start, and once with your date history beside it.

What Does a Consistent Set of Dates Look Like in a Worked Case?

Rachel Morgan lives in Delhi, India, holds a passport that needs an Irish visa, and wants to visit her friend Claire Doyle in Dublin. She applies for a short stay visit visa, single journey. Everything below is invented for illustration, and no date in it is a forecast.

Her date history, written before she opens AVATS, shows why the log matters.

• 28 December 2026: arrive 11/04/2027, leave 21/04/2027. She picked these without checking Claire's shifts.

• 4 January 2027: arrive 12/04/2027, leave 21/04/2027. Claire works until Sunday evening, so Monday suits her. Rachel's employer approves absence from 12 April to 21 April, with a return to work on 22 April.

Next comes the passport check. Her passport expires on 30 November 2027. Six months after 21 April 2027 is 21 October 2027, which leaves a margin of 40 days. Any leaving date after 30 May 2027 would have failed the six-month test, so the ten minutes of arithmetic mattered.

On 12 January 2027, exactly 90 days before arrival, she creates the application. In Proposed Dates, she types 12/04/2027 and 21/04/2027. She then reads each date aloud with the month named. A US-style 04/12/2027 is also a valid calendar date for 4 December, so a validity check cannot distinguish it from the date she meant.

On the review screen, she prints her entries and lays them beside her letters. The application letter, drafted from the employer's note, says she will leave on 22 April, the day she returns to work. That contradicts AVATS. Letters can be rewritten, so she corrects it, signs it again, and logs the change with its date.

After reviewing the fictional application, Claire submits AVATS, prints and signs the summary and follows its named office’s instructions. The example dates are illustrative; calculate the actual deadline from the rule for your visa category, not from this worksheet.

Her pack repeats 12 and 21 April everywhere. Claire's invitation letter states the invited dates and her full address, because Rachel will stay in her home. The accommodation plan is Claire's address with a utility bill from the last six months.

The employer letter gives the absence as 12 to 21 April and the return as 22 April. Six months of bank statements, her passport, copies of earlier passports, two photographs, and the signed summary sheet complete the pack.

An eight-week processing figure is only a general estimate from document receipt, not a decision date. Claire should keep her leave and host plans flexible and avoid buying a fare that depends on that estimate.

Had she applied six weeks before arrival, the same pattern would have put the decision after 12 April. The 90-day window is what gave her those 13 days. Nothing here guarantees that her visa is approved, only that her paperwork gives the officer one story to read.

One last detail comes from the visa itself. Travel is limited to the dates printed on it, including the first and last dates. If it ever arrives showing dates that differ from the ones she proposed, she reads them carefully before doing anything else.

What If a Date Is Wrong After You Submit?

First identify whether the error is in a supporting letter or the submitted AVATS record. Letters can be replaced through an accepted channel; AVATS answers cannot be edited online after Submit. Ask the named application office how to handle the actual discrepancy.

Letter errors are the easy case. Rewrite the letter, sign and date it, replace the old copy, and confirm the 30-day window is still open. If you have already sent the pack, ask the application office how it wants a replacement delivered rather than sending a second, conflicting set.

Do not hand-edit a submitted summary. Contact the application office on the summary, quote the transaction number and describe the incorrect field and correct fact. Follow the office’s directions on a correction note, replacement document or fresh application.

Ask about fees before you decide anything. The visa fee is not refunded if you withdraw your application, so the cost of starting over is worth asking about. Ask too whether the 30-day window restarts and whether biometrics must be repeated.

A genuine material change after submission should be explained through the official channel for the receiving office. Avoid sending a new invitation with dates that silently contradict the AVATS summary; the office decides whether to attach an update or require another step.

For ordinary short-stay refusals made under the rules effective from 1 June 2026, the Irish appeals notice generally requires a new application rather than an appeal. There are specified EU free-movement exceptions; read the refusal letter for the route applicable to your case.

A new application must answer the prior-refusal questions truthfully and include the documentation the current checklist requests. Do not conceal the earlier decision or assume every refusal is handled identically.

Honesty sets the boundary. False or misleading information or documents can lead to refusal, no right of appeal, and a bar on new Irish visa applications for up to five years. Never alter a document to hide a mismatch. Correct the real date and explain the change.

For an applicant under 18, the parent or legal guardian who completed the details and signed on the child's behalf is the person who makes these calls. They also hold the date history, so it should be shared with them before the form is generated.

Which Corrections and Enquiries Are Worth Making?

Two lists cover the ground: a checklist for the days before you press Submit, and a short enquiry list for afterwards. Anything beyond them tends to add paper without adding clarity.

Before you submit:

• Read each date aloud as day, month, and year, then compare it with the DD/MM/YYYY entry on screen.

• Confirm the leaving date falls after the arrival date and the stay stays within 90 days.

• Count six months from the leaving date and compare the result with your passport expiry.

• Lay the application letter, invitation letter, employer letter, and accommodation plan beside the review screen, and read every date in each.

• Add the final version to your date history, with today's date beside it.

• Print the review screen before you press Submit and keep the copy.

After you submit:

• Sign and date the summary sheet, and note the transaction number.

• Write that number on the back of both photographs, beside your signature.

• Diary day 30, counted from the creation date, and aim to deliver a week earlier.

• Use the transaction number whenever you check progress.

Contact the named application office if a submitted AVATS date is wrong, a material plan changes or the document deadline cannot be met. The response channel and remedy depend on the office and visa category; do not create a second application without checking the instructions.

When you write, keep the message short and give the transaction number, both versions of the date, and your question. Five questions cover most cases:

1. How do you want the discrepancy corrected?

2. Is a fresh application needed, or can the existing one continue?

3. What happens to the visa fee already paid?

4. Does the 30-day window restart?

5. Must biometrics be repeated?

Skip the enquiry for a letter-only slip fixed inside the window, and for progress questions before the usual period has passed. The Dublin Visa Office publishes decisions and waiting times each Tuesday, and other offices handle progress queries directly, so look there before writing.

Which Smaller Date Questions Come Up Most?

Can You Type Your Dates in Any Order?

No. AVATS wants day first, then month, then year. The entry 04/12/2027 means 4 December, not 12 April, and the system has no way to know which you intended.

Should You Leave the Leaving Date Blank to Stay Flexible?

Not on a short stay application. Only long-stay cases and certain family members of EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens may leave it blank. Flexible plans are better handled by waiting until the dates are firm, then applying early within the 90 days.

How Long Do Visa Applications Typically Take?

Visa applications typically take 4–8 weeks to process, and visit visas are usually decided about eight weeks after the documents arrive. Offices differ, and the figure moves during holiday periods, so treat it as a planning guide and not a promise.

Does a Multiple-Entry Application Change the Date Question?

For a multiple-entry short-stay application, the AVATS To answer is the planned departure after the first trip. Eligibility for multiple entry and the fee are separate questions; do not assume paying a higher fee ensures that visa type.

Ireland Visa Application Form: Where Do the Rules in This Guide Come From?

The AVATS, family/friend visit and appeals guidance linked here was checked on 24 October 2026. Office instructions, payment methods and processing queues can change; verify the live pages for your own category.

• Immigration Service Delivery, Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, "Giving your details on AVATS for a visa/preclearance application", page updated 14 October 2025.

• Immigration Service Delivery, "Visit family/friend visa", page updated 29 May 2026.

• Immigration Service Delivery, "Frequently asked questions" (Coming to visit Ireland), page updated 14 February 2024.

• Embassy of Ireland, India, "Visas for Ireland", Ireland.ie, last modified 1 July 2025.

• Embassy of Ireland, New Delhi, "Processing times and decisions", Ireland.ie, no page date shown.

Locking Your Dates Before You Press Submit

Before submitting an Irish short-stay application, compare the proposed AVATS entry and exit dates with the invitation, leave, accommodation and intended route. Correct the online form before Submit if a date is wrong; after submission, ask the receiving office for its official correction process.

Apply within the category’s window, submit the required documents by the applicable deadline, and avoid paying for final travel before the decision where Irish guidance advises against it. Consistency helps explain a truthful plan but never guarantees approval.

Frequently Asked Questions

Friendly reminder: BookForVisa provides travel-proof documents for planning and visa-application support. Requirements vary by destination, consulate, visa category and applicant situation. A flight reservation can support a file, but it does not guarantee approval, boarding or entry.