Marrying UK partner resident in Ireland, currently non-EEA stamp 2 permissions

There is no minimum salary requirement for EU Treaty rights beneficiaries, unless you want to apply under domestic laws (which you absolutely shouldn't). Any kind of casual work is employment. If the teaching assistant / research grant is recorded in the Revenue system, he is eligible.

The real issue is that he doesn't have a job now and the PhD study is over. You would not want to leave too much of a gap between employment where possible, and he could not sponsor you in EUTR1A if he does not have a job at the moment, unless he wants to apply under being self-sufficient (which would require you to have proof for a large saving).

You can apply in 2022 - but it is advisable to apply as soon as possible. The issues with Northern Ireland Protocols are all over the place in recent days and politicians in NI are so keen to have it scraped. If that becomes the reality, that would cause a hell lot of issues for you.

He’s doing teaching assistant work currently and even though it’s casual pay (with no formal contract) it is recorded in revenue. He does have a large savings in a UK account he received as an inheritance, I don’t know how much he needs though for that to be useful in this case (but we could live on it for two years if we had to). Would scrapping the NI protocols really impact UK citizens living here before Brexit? I’m really concerned now that if worst case scenario happens and I can’t get the application done before 2022 that we’ll be screwed.

Would scrapping the NI protocols really impact UK citizens living here before Brexit?

It's a hypothetical question. Nobody knows what will happen at the moment. I can't see the Government giving a hard time for anyone who has already got a permission to live in the state, but for people who have not got a permission, it would be hard to say.

Ugh I suppose so. I’ll try and do the application ASAP.

Do you think they will give me grief for applying for a Stamp 1G then submitting a EUTR1A? And does my partner need health insurance? It sounds like he does and I need to be on it but I have my own private health insurance for my stamp 2, and he never needed private before. Can I put him on mine?

1G and EUTR are two different departments so they won't matter. In fact, if you apply for the de-facto relationship under domestic laws, they would send you a letter asking you to make sure that you have a valid permission while the application is in progress. They probably wouldn't do that for EUTR applications but nevertheless it's the correct approach to make sure that you have a different permission while your application is still in progress.

Regarding health insurance, I would again suggest that you take a look at the application form first, especially the checklist part, even if you are not planning to submit it in short time. It has all the documentary requirements and will help you organise your supporting documents more quickly.

It should say that health insurance is required if the EEA national is residing with sufficient resources or is in full-time studying, but is not required if they are employed, self-employed or involuntarily unemployed.

Thanks, yes that makes sense, especially since it might take 9 months or longer for the application to be processed. I talked to INIS and they said there shouldn’t be a problem to apply in 2022 if necessary but my partner’s passport should be back in three weeks, I just sent off my 1G application (and hopefully that goes through okay even though my Stamp 2 expires in December), and INIS confirmed casual employment is fine for the application (whew). Feeling much better about this now.