Help Carina stay in Ireland

Hi, my name’s Carina Gabilondo, and I need your help.

I am 25 and I’m from Mexico City. I went to drama school there and during the pandemic, I started applying to schools abroad. I found the Lir Academy by chance and decided to audition. I was incredibly lucky to get in and was able to pursue my dream and move to Ireland in 2021 and became the first Mexican (ever) to attend which is an absolute honour that words can’t describe.

I originally moved here for a year but I soon made lifelong friends, found an incredible job, built a family, and (as cliche as it sounds) completely fell in love with Irish culture.

I’ve been lucky enough to work in The Abbey Theatre since I finished training, a place that I absolutely love and is incredibly special to me. Everyone there has been so kind and welcoming and I feel extremely lucky to be a part of the National Theatre of Ireland.

They knew how much I wanted to stay, and so they helped me fill in and submit an application for a Visa that would allow me to continue to live and work here. This was in August, 5 months ago. I haven’t heard anything back since I submitted the application.

During this drawn out process of waiting to hear back about the visa, I went back to Mexico to visit my family for Christmas. When I was coming back this Monday evening, I was stopped in Immigration in Dublin Airport, who I explained my situation to.

I want to believe that the way I was treated was some kind of misunderstanding, but my phone was taken from me, and my texts, emails, bank transactions and everything was gone through.

I was completely in shock and honestly don’t remember much from the conversation.

I was given 24 hours to buy a one way ticket back to Mexico and 2 weeks to leave Dublin.

If I didn’t do this, they explained I would be deported from the country.

I was completely overwhelmed, and seriously thought I might never be able to come back to Ireland.

However, I contacted a wonderful lawyer who is gonna help me reapply for my visa and stay in this country that I love so much.

The problem is, for the moment I’m no longer able to work until the Visa comes through, so I have no way of sustaining all of these expenses including the legal fees, the visa reapplication, flights, etc…

But as the situation stands, there’s no way I could afford to pay for all this.

That is why I am reaching out to you and asking for your help.

If you can donate, anything small would mean the absolute world.

I truly love living here, and have made a life for myself that I never imagined I could have back home. If I can’t raise this money, it might mean I can’t come back to this country I love so much.

Thank you so so much