Banned woman to try for Irish return

Better Homes & Gardens writer will see if Ireland immigration is 'better'

Nearly a month after being refused entry into Ireland, the Wyoming woman who visits Ireland on a yearly basis has decided to give it another shot.

Tessa Fowler, 38, was refused entry into Ireland by the Dublin Police Immigration Bureau on July 16 on the grounds that she did not have a return ticket.

Fowler, who contacted the Irish Voice/IrishCentral only days after she was forced to return to the U.S., has spent the past four weeks coming to terms with what happened in Dublin in July.

She was shocked, distraught, angry and most of all sad that she missed out on visiting a country that she adores.

“I was so upset not to have been allowed in,” said Fowler, who is of Irish and Scottish descent.

“I came home thinking all that time, effort and money I put into having this holiday were lost. I was in shock for a while over it, then the fighting Irish with a little stubborn Scottish came out in me and I knew I could still make this happen.”

After weeks of phone calls to the Immigration Bureau in Ireland, dozens of letters, emails and voice mails to various Irish governmental agencies both in the U.S. and in Ireland but with little response, Fowler decided to take a chance again and booked a return ticket to Ireland, due to fly out of New York on August 27 and arrive the next day. She will stay 20 days – if she’s permitted entry.

Fowler, who claims Irish ancestry, was in Ireland five times in the last three years. July was to be her sixth trip. Fowler’s best friend, a girl she grew up with, now lives in Cork with her child and husband.

Fowler, a financial assistant, once wrote an article in the Better Homes and Gardens about her trips to Ireland and how she enjoys cooking Irish food.

The Wyoming woman was turned away from Ireland at Dublin Airport in July after a lengthy interrogation session by a female Irish immigration officer.

Fowler, a mother of three boys, was unable to produce a return ticket — she often travels on one way because she doesn’t always know what date she wants to return — leading the immigration officer to think she was planning to stay in Ireland long term. She has never stayed more than three weeks.

An immigration officer in Dublin told the Irish Voice/IrishCentral that Fowler was refused entry on “strong grounds.”

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Nster.com