UK citizen with non EU wife planning move to Ireland

Hello

Like most people on this forum I am in need of some assistance with my situation and would appreciate any advice.

I am a UK citizen and my wife is a non EU national (Australian), we have been married for over 3 years (together for 8yrs) and we plan to move to Ireland soon. My wife will be able to enter Ireland on a standard visa (3 month stay) and I will be looking for work once we arrive. I have read a lot about exercising EU treaty rights and feel that this is the best avenue for my wife and I, however im not 100% clear on the process. My questions are:

1. Once I get a job does my wife apply for the EU1 Residency Card or should she be applying for the 4EUFAM?
2. Can my wife also look for employment as soon as we arrive or does she have to wait until the outcome of her EU1 or 4EUFAM application? (I read somewhere that we should both apply for a PPS number once we arrive, however not clear if this is possible or not)

I understand that in order to achieve a favourable outcome it is best that I am employed and provide evidence of residing in Ireland (ie, rental agreement, utlities bills, etc).

Im sure that I am just repeating what someone else has already asked in the past, however I want to ensure that the advice is up-to-date and would appreciate any insight from others who have recently gone down this path.

Your assistance is appreciated.

To answer your questions:

1. EU1 and Stamp 4EUFam not two different residence cards, but both related to EU treaty right residence cards. EU1 is the name of the form to apply for the card,, and Stamp 4 EUFam is the name of the stamp you get on your passport / residence card once you have been approved as an EU citizen family member. So in summary: you apply with form EU1, and if approved they will issue a residence card with Stamp 4 EU Fam.
2. This is a grey area. Some will say she can work as soon as you are exercising EU Treaty Rights, but in practice it will be difficult as she will have no document to show to employers to attest she is allowed to work. However, a few weeks after you submit your form EU1 (and provided you have enclosedmost required documents), they will send you a letter allowing her to go to the immigration office and get a Stamp 4 residence card (not 4 Eu Fam). This is a temporary measure and the card will only be valid while they are processing here EU1 application, but once she has this she will be clearly allowed to work in Ireland.

Thank you jeupsy, that was very clear and informative. I appreciate it.

One more question if I can. I keep reading that if a person is a non EU citizen and intends on staying longer than 3 months (which my wife is) then she should go to the local An Garda Síochána and register for a GNIB card. Is this different from the EU1 form application (residency card) or is the GNIB card what you get if your EU1 form is successful?

Appreciate your assistance.

One more thing has just popped into my mind.

As the EU citizen living in Ireland, I understand that I must be employed before my wife can submit her EU1 form as a non EU citizen. Does the type of employment of the EU citizen have an impact on the success of an application? For example, can I be working part-time or perhaps just doing temp work?

No problem

Yes when I said residence card I meant GNIB card (GNIB cards the residence cards issued by Ireland, and what they allow the holder to do - work/study/or none depends on the Stamp number that is stated on the card).
The final Stamp 4 EUFam and temporary Stamp 4 I mentioned come with GNIB cards (both for the temporary one and the final one, once they have made a decision they will send you a letter asking you to goto the GNIB office, where they will put a stamp on your wife's passport along with the date until which she is allowed to stay in Ireland, and also issue her a GNIB card which states her stamp type and is what she should carry with her as an ID and what she would use for things like proving that she is allowed to work here). So once she has these cards there is no need for additional registration (the only potential issue is that between the time it takes for you to find a job and for them to issue the temporary card, the initial 3 months period could run out).

As long as as your employment is documented and you have a proper contract and are paying taxes/PRSI, you can do any job including part-time and it will make no difference for the EU1 application - if you are legally working and can prove your relationship they have to approve her application. You can also be self employed, but then they will ask for proofs that you have your own business (bank account with regular cash inflow from customers and/or paperwork related to your company).

Lastly, my advice would be for you to have a look at the application form and the required documentation before you come to Ireland. Some documents depend on your employment and other on your accommodation, and to avoid any delay it would be a good thing to know exactly what you need and make sure it would not be an issue with your future employer and landlord before you sign any contract with them.

Thank you once again jeupsy, you are a superstar!

When you said "issue with your future employer and landlord before you sign any contract with them", do you know of any examples? Anything in particular I should be extra vigilent about?

As you can imagine, I want to make sure that my EU1 form doesn't have any gaps to ensure a favourable outcome.

Guys DO I HAVE TO BRING MY WIFE EACH TIME renew my stamp 4 EU ? or just my passport and the letter from the minster

Hi. Yes you need to bring your wife each time. Your permission is based on her and the fact that she is exercising her rights in the State

In terms of the landlord: you will need a PRTB registration letter (your landlord needs to register your names with the governement authority in charge of regulating private tenancies). This is mandatory for every tenancy and shouldn't be a problem, but some landlord might be lazy and take a while to do it, or might want to avoid this if the tenant doesn't ask because they are not paying all the due taxes for their rental income. It is probably a good idea to mention that you will need this fairly shortly before you sign a tenancy agreement (some people had to fight with landlord for weeks which is delaying the residence card application).

In terms of employer, I just mean that if you get a part time / temp job, make sure the employer is doing things by the books and not paying you in cash with not official documentation to evade the taxman.

Thank you jeupsy that is really helpful. Once again I appreciate your help. Fingers crossed everything goes to plan.

Hi there,
I am a British citizen married to a Moroccan woman. I had my settlement visa refused due to a financial requirement. Now I am thinking of the surinder singh route, I have the choice between Ireland or Belgium!!I just wanted whats the easiest option for me and what documents do I need to produce to get my wife a C visa so she can travel with me??
Many thanks