Stamp 4 for non-EEA citizen (Malaysia) with EU partner (Portugal)

Hi folks, sorry for making my own topic, just from looking around I can see this comes up pretty often, but here's the story:

I'm Portuguese, living in Ireland for just over 5 years now, full-time employed for 5 years coming March. My girlfriend is a Malaysian citizen who came here in 2014 to get her third-level degree, which she completed last summer.

She currently has a Stamp 1G, automatically granted after she completed her degree, which expires in June of 2019. She is currently employed, but the talks with the company to try and get them to sponsor her Stamp 1 visa (she qualifies for the Critical Skills list) are going slow and we're a bit nervous about the whole thing so we wanted to take matters into our own hands and not have to rely on an employer for it.

We've been living together for 2 years this coming May, though we would only really be able to produce paper evidence of 2 years cohabitation from August, which seems to rule out the De Facto partnership. Even if we could, I have looked everywhere online and see people talk about nearly 1 year delays before approval, which is pretty discouraging.

We've talked about marriage, since we live what is essentially a married life already, and we're wondering if that would be the easiest/quickest option to go with. My question essentially boils down to:

Assuming we cannot count on her employer (whether current or future) to help with the visa paperwork on time, what can we do to ensure that she can keep living and working in Ireland past June of this year?

Thank you for your time, very appreciated. If you have your time zone set to GMT you might be able to tell that this has been keeping me up at night lately!

Definitely easier and quicker option is to get married in Ireland and since you are in a marriage-like relationship makes sense to me to take it to the next level.

max307 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:12 am

Definitely easier and quicker option is to get married in Ireland and since you are in a marriage-like relationship makes sense to me to take it to the next level.

That's great to hear, at least it's in our hands. Do you know how long it takes from the moment we get married to her front the stamp 4? Because my understanding is we have to give 3 months notice to get married, so that leaves us with only a few months for the rest of the paperwork.

VIStrings wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:11 am

max307 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:12 am

Definitely easier and quicker option is to get married in Ireland and since you are in a marriage-like relationship makes sense to me to take it to the next level.

That's great to hear, at least it's in our hands. Do you know how long it takes from the moment we get married to her front the stamp 4? Because my understanding is we have to give 3 months notice to get married, so that leaves us with only a few months for the rest of the paperwork.

Yes, you will need to move fast because the 3 months notice to the State it's mandatory.

Once the EU Treaty Rights application is initially reviewed by INIS your-soon-to-be-wife will receive a temporary Stamp 4 EUFAM that will allow her to work with no need of other visa/work permit. The temporary stamp is usually good for 6 months (but can be renewed) while the application is being processed.

If the application is approved she will get a 5 years Stamp 4 EUFAM.

start the marriage process now, cause u have to inform the registrar 3 months before the actual wedding, that is mid march already

Once u are married right away apply for eu1 form, then in 4 weeks she will get a stamp 4 eufam card for 9 months, and just before the expiration she will get the 5 years card.