As a non-EEA spouse of an Irish national who has exercised their treaty rights in another member state, the UK, and you have now moved to Ireland using the RC issued to you under the European Directive as the equivalent to an entry visa, you can now apply to remain in Ireland under the Directive by applying to the EU Treaty Rights section of INIS using the EU1 form. You need to supply evidence of your spouse having exercised their treaty rights, eg by working - payslips, joint tenancy agreement in UK etc. The EU1 application is the Irish equivalent application to the one which gave you your UK residence card as the family member of an EEA citizen, and you will be given a 5 year residency card. They send an acknowledgement, which at the moment takes approx 6-8 weeks, allowing you to go to the Garda to get a temporary stamp 4, and once they approve the application, which can take 6 months, then you will receive the EU4FAM (equivalent to the UK 5 year residence card under European Directive)
This is from the INIS website:
Q.13 I am an Irish National. Can my non EEA family members apply for EU Treaty Rights?
A The Directive applies to all Union citizens who move to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they are a national, and to their family members who accompany or join them. (Article 3 of Directive 2004/38/EC)
If, as an Irish national, you have exercised your EU Treaty Rights in another Member State with your family member and have now returned to Ireland, you may apply.
Evidence of having exercised your EU Treaty Rights in the other Member State in respect of you and your family member must be submitted with the application along with all other relevant documentation.
You can find the EU1 form here:
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/EU ... y%20Rights
As to whether you need to register your presence with the Garda now, contact your local Garda station and explain you are sending your EU1 application as your spouse exercised treaty rights in the UK, and do they require you to go and register first, or after you receive the acknowledgement from INIS. People have been given different advice in this regard depending on their location it seems. Some Garda will send you away until you have the acknowledgement from INIS, and some say that you must attend the station and register straight away. And some Garda/INIS staff seem to be unaware of the rights of spouses of Irish citizens to apply via the EU1 route and give incorrect advice believing that it only applies to other EEA citizens and their spouses, and not also to returning Irish citizens, so maybe print off the relevant information from the INIS site before you go, together with the EU1 form completed.
You can contact INIS direct at
eutreatyrights@justice.ie for advice.
The UK RC as an EEA family member allows you to enter Ireland without applying for an entry visa, even if you are a visa required national normally, but if your intention is to stay more than 3 months you must send the EU1 form and register with the Garda for the GNIB card (or follow national immigration route - check with the Garda/INIS for more info on this).
As your spouse is Irish, you also have the option to apply under Irish immigration rules, but if you are a visa required national, and your spouse has exercised EU Treaty rights in the UK by working while you lived there together, the EU1 application is likely the most straight forward way to proceed.
I'm not 100% on which way to go forward if you follow the national immigration rules as opposed to the european law route, but there are minimum financial requirements as set out on INIS, amongst other things (these requirements don't apply if you go the EU1 route), as new rules were introduced on December 31st 2013 under national immigration law -
Evidence showing that Irish spouse/civil partner (sponsor) meets the published financial criteria set out at 17.2 of "Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification" available on INIS website http://www.inis.gov.ie (e.g. P60s for last 3 years, financial statements, P21 Revenue Commissioner statements, pay slips, financial accounts, etc – this list is not exhaustive)
The requirements are here:
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Family%2 ... cument.pdf
I'm assuming you are a visa required national for Ireland since you've pointed out that you've used the UK RC as an entry to Ireland, and since you haven't applied for an entry visa, nor have a pending application with INIS to stay in Ireland and currently don't have a stamp in your passport (I'm assuming from the information you've given) allowing you to remain in Ireland, though I cannot say for certain, it seems unlikely that turning up at the Garda station, they would give you a stamp 4 without going through one of the above routes, but if someone in the same situation has had a stamp 4, I'd be very interested to know.
If you are not a visa required national, then you can just attend the GNIB with all your documents and ask for a stamp 4.
