Dummy ticket (flight reservation) for Ireland visa: what the Embassy says

What the Ireland checklist asks for

• The AVATS online application, followed by your supporting documents at a VFS Global Ireland centre.
• For a hotel, guesthouse or B&B: a copy of the reservation confirmation, showing the address of the accommodation and the exact dates of your stay.
• If you are staying with family or friends instead: an invitation letter and your host’s details.
• Travel health insurance for the trip.
• No flight booking. The Embassy says it is not required, and that booking a flight before the visa is at your own risk.
• If you hold a UK visa and will enter the UK first: a check that the Short Stay Visa Waiver Programme still applies on your dates.

Ireland: the options side by side

Flights not required, accommodation required

The visa documentation page of the Embassy of Ireland in New Delhi puts it in one line: “Flight bookings are not required for an Irish visa.” The next line is just as direct: “An applicant who books a flight before receiving their visa does so at their own risk.” The visa fee is non-refundable as well.

Accommodation is the opposite. Item 9 of the Visit Visa Checklist 2025 says that if you are staying in a hotel, guesthouse or B&B, “you must include a copy of confirmation of the reservation, including the address of the accommodation, and the exact dates of your stay.” That checklist on assets.ireland.ie is a generic version rather than one written for India, so also read the list VFS gives you. Either way, a held hotel reservation shows the address and dates without paying before the decision.

When a held reservation still helps

Some applicants still want flight details in the file, and there are reasonable cases for it. Parents travelling for a child’s graduation in Dublin or Cork have a fixed date to show. A family applying together can show that every member travels on the same days. A visitor combining Ireland with a separate UK or Schengen visa needs one route that reads the same in every application.

In each case, use a held reservation rather than a paid fare. It shows your planned flights in a genuine airline reservation in your name, held without payment, so no fare is spent while the application is open. Never submit an edited or invented booking PDF: that is a false document, and a flight booking is not even required here.

The UK visa route and its 31 October 2026 date

Under Ireland’s Short Stay Visa Waiver Programme, Indian nationals who hold a valid UK visa and enter the UK first can travel on to Ireland without a separate Irish visa. A UK ETA cannot be used for it, and Indian passport holders cannot get one in any case.

The programme was scheduled to run until 31 October 2026, and on 22 October 2026 we could not confirm an extension. If your trip falls after that date, check the Irish Immigration page before relying on it, or apply for an Irish visa. If you do use the waiver, your route has to reach the UK first: a flight from India straight to Dublin does not qualify.

Timing your file around VFS and the Embassy

Irish processing times change through the year, and the Embassy in New Delhi publishes its current processing dates. Read them before you choose travel dates, and leave a margin after the expected decision.

A held flight reservation lasts only as long as the airline allows, so it will normally have lapsed by the time an officer in New Delhi reads your file. Because Ireland does not ask for a flight booking, that is no problem: treat it as a record of your plan on the day you submit. Order any flight reservation for the day you hand your documents to VFS, or the evening before at most, alongside the hotel reservation, so the two carry the same dates.

Flying from India to Ireland

Your reservation should follow a route you could realistically fly. These are common options; schedules change, so the desk confirms what is bookable for your dates.

Mistakes to avoid with a Ireland application

• Buying a ticket before the decision. The Embassy says that is at your own risk, and the visa fee is non-refundable too.
• Relying on the UK visa waiver while flying straight to Dublin, or for a trip after 31 October 2026 without checking for an extension.
• A hotel confirmation without the accommodation’s address or the exact dates of your stay, both of which the checklist asks for.
• Assuming a Schengen visa covers Ireland. It does not; Ireland issues its own visa.
• Hotel or invitation dates that differ from the dates on your AVATS form and your leave letter.
• Attaching an edited or made-up booking PDF. Every confirmation you submit must be genuine.

Dummy ticket and hotel bookings, matched to your itinerary

We do not send one loose document. The desk matches the flight reservation and every hotel booking to your itinerary: the same dates, the same cities, and no night left uncovered. These are the real documents of one order for a Switzerland visa file, issued on 5 November 2026: one flight reservation and four hotel bookings that cover all 9 nights between the two flights. Personal details are blacked out; everything else is as issued.

• Flight reservationEtihad, Hyderabad (HYD) to Zurich (ZRH), status Confirmed
• Hotel booking, ZurichMEININGER Hotel Zürich Greencity, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, GenevaB&B HOTEL Geneva Airport, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, LucerneSeminarhotel Romerohaus, 2 nights
• Hotel booking, Zurich AirportLeonardo Hotel Zurich Airport, 1 night

Open the full documents and the day-by-day table: flight and hotels matched date by date

How to get your Ireland flight reservation

Ireland questions, answered