EU citizen bringing non EU citizen to live in Ireland

I would like to identify what options i have to bring my Thai girlfriend to live with me in Dublin. Although I will seek advice from a solicitor I am looking for ideas or shared experiences that will feed me some info to brainstorm on so that I can have a productive meeting.

I am a French citizen living and working in Dublin since 2009. Last year I met a Thai woman while I was on a holiday. Yes i know how cliché that sounds
We met in July 2012 the we met in October 2012 in Dubai (we got her a 2 week visa for the UAE).
Once she flew back to Thailand we used the services of a Thai agency (owned by a British man) to apply for a tourist visa for her to visit Ireland. It took forever but she was granted the visa (with 2 month left on a 3 month valid period: i still dont know how that happened. (no extension, single entry) , she came to visit and stayed with me for 2 months, and she left on time.
As i see this relationship progressing in a positive way, I am looking for the "next visa".

Ideally the next visa would allow her to stay longer than 2 months and ideally allow her to work. I can support the two of us but I do not imagine her being happy sitting at home all day or most of the day while I work. Although she will study English for sure, I am not sure that a student visa is the solution.

Whatever course of action we take today will influence whatever visa or change of status we would apply for in the future and it is with that in mind that i want to make sure we are doing things right.

Thank you for reading and even more thank you if you can contribute.

Keep in contact with her more frequently and keep the traces and records!. Flight details, holidays, photos, messages, etc.

You can apply for her to join you in a year, two or three based on Defacto Relationship.

See below for more details


http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000278

Well student visa may be the solution if you are not planning to get married. If you do get married it will be almost a straight forward application in which she will end up being granted a 5 year residence card that will enable her to work, start business, etc etc.

If you aren't keen on marriage at the moment, the only possible solution would be for her to apply for a student visa, and whilst she is in Ireland , you have to be living together for 2 years with proofs of cohabitation to hand she may apply and be granted 5 years residence documentation based on Defacto.

dalebutt wrote:Well student visa may be the solution if you are not planning to get married. If you do get married it will be almost a straight forward application in which she will end up being granted a 5 year residence card that will enable her to work, start business, etc etc.

If you aren't keen on marriage at the moment, the only possible solution would be for her to apply for a student visa, and whilst she is in Ireland , you have to be living together for 2 years with proofs of cohabitation to hand she may apply and be granted 5 years residence documentation based on Defacto.

Thank you very much for responding. You are right I am not keen on marriage for the moment as I am finishing up a long divorce procedure and very simply because I think we need to spend more time together before committing that much further. I am just afraid that in her application for a student visa it may look quite obvious that she is joining a boyfriend even if she will follow through with a full course of study: I think there is nothing bad in being upfront about it if she gets asked the question but the immigration officer may think differently: any thoughts on that?

IntegratedMigrant wrote:Keep in contact with her more frequently and keep the traces and records!. Flight details, holidays, photos, messages, etc.

You can apply for her to join you in a year, two or three based on Defacto Relationship.

See below for more details


http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000278

Thank you. I am keeping all "evidence".

miamiheat wrote:I think there is nothing bad in being upfront about it if she gets asked the question but the immigration officer may think differently: any thoughts on that?

Yes, I think if no one asks about it there is no need to mention it; but if they do it is not a good idea to hide it from them.

I think if she has an offer from a college here, getting the visa shouldn't be an issue and they are not to likely to ask questions. Maybe if it is "just" a language school they would scrutinise her application a bit more.

jeupsy wrote:

miamiheat wrote:I think there is nothing bad in being upfront about it if she gets asked the question but the immigration officer may think differently: any thoughts on that?

Yes, I think if no one asks about it there is no need to mention it; but if they do it is not a good idea to hide it from them.

I think if she has an offer from a college here, getting the visa shouldn't be an issue and they are not to likely to ask questions. Maybe if it is "just" a language school they would scrutinise her application a bit more.

It is in fact a language school as first there is the language to be learned prior to anything else. Her verbal English is a bit rough but not that bad but she cant write: she wouldn't be able to attend any type of course.

OK ... I think they are more likely to ask for details, probably the best is to be honest about it if they do.

jeupsy wrote:OK ... I think they are more likely to ask for details, probably the best is to be honest about it if they do.

thank you for reading and for your input

Married persons have an easier time demonstrating entitlement.

Other family members, including durable partners have a more difficult time.