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Non-visa required national moving to Ireland with EU spouse?

Forum to discuss all things Blarney | Ireland immigration

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sawcebox
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Non-visa required national moving to Ireland with EU spouse?

Post by sawcebox » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:22 pm

Hi all,

I am Canadian and so don't require a visa to enter Ireland. My Italian husband and I are currently resident in the UK (I have the papers to live and work here, etc).

We are hoping to move to Ireland next year. Do I need to apply for the D-spouse visa before I leave, or can we just show up in Ireland and present the authorities with our passports, marriage certificate, etc and say "hello, we'd like to stay and work"? If the latter, when and where should I do this? Upon arrival at the airport, or at some later date?

Thanks for any help.

JAJ
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Re: Non-visa required national moving to Ireland with EU spo

Post by JAJ » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:26 am

sawcebox wrote:Hi all,

I am Canadian and so don't require a visa to enter Ireland. My Italian husband and I are currently resident in the UK (I have the papers to live and work here, etc).
How long have you and your Italian husband been living in the UK? Is there any chance of becoming naturalised British citizens - this would make the move to Ireland much easier.

You should be aware that if you move to Ireland before you get British citizenship, you've (obviously) got no chance of qualifying for British citizenship any longer. And it may be many years until you can get Irish citizenship - at least 5 years residence plus a long processing time (it's currently taking years).

sawcebox
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Post by sawcebox » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:55 pm

Hi JAJ,

Unfortunately we haven't been in the UK nearly long enough to apply for landed citizenship. In a couple of years I should be able to apply for Italian citizenship in any case, so we aren't really concerned about getting Irish or British citizenship. We just want to know what we need to do to get to Ireland in the first place!

Thanks for your help,

scrudu
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Post by scrudu » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:10 pm

Hi sawcebox,
Check out other posts relating to this on this forum, e.g. http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=10840, but yes you can enter quite simply, but no you cannot get residency or permission to work so simply. You will have to complete the EU1 form and wait up to 6 months for a response which if positive, will allow you permission to remain and work. During this time you may not leave the country, and your passport will remain with the Dept of Justice (unless you request it back).

You can apply for this in advance of your move to Ireland. Probably the best bet if you can do so as at least you can stay working in the UK.

sawcebox
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Post by sawcebox » Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:27 pm

Hi scrudu,
You can apply for this in advance of your move to Ireland. Probably the best bet if you can do so as at least you can stay working in the UK.
Thanks for this tip. This is the first we've heard of it being possible to do this -- we thought it wasn't as the EU-1 form requests the addresses of our Irish residences and our passports. Would this mean that my husband would have to go to Ireland first and establish a residence? Also, if we apply in advance are we required to send in our passports? We are a bit leery of giving up our passports to one country while living as foreigners in another.

Regards,

Babstar
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Post by Babstar » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:24 pm

Hi sawcebox
how come you qualify for italian citizenship if you both reside in the UK?
I ask you because I'm also Italian but living in Ireland for 10 years with my husband who is South African and we were never told he could get Italian citizenship on the basis of being married to me.
By the way, I don't mean to discourage you but I don't advise you to move over here. We have had nothing but troubles, we are constantly treated like class B citizens and bounced back and forwards between departments that don't know what they're supposed to be doing...I'm sorry to be negative but I honestly would not want another couple of people to go through the same amount of dissapointments we have, particularly not another fellow Italian =(
B

EuroRicky
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Post by EuroRicky » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:38 pm

Hi Babstar,

I'm the husband in this discussion so I'd better answer myself. You can get the Italian citizenship if you're a spouse of an Italian citizen. You can apply after 6 months if your residence is in Italy or after 3 years if you live abroad:

http://www.esteri.it/ITA/5_30_208_318.asp

Already checked with the "prefettura" in my hometown back in Italy and the above is correct.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience. We know what Ireland is like having lived there already (my wife with a one year work-holiday visa) and having got married there too.

I don't want to talk about B-citizens or whatever because it's not the subject of the post.

Anyone else with advice on the EU1 form? Thanks in advance for any additional information.

Babstar
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Post by Babstar » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:52 pm

B-Citizen by the different immigration departments by the way, not by the people of course. The people are wonderful of course and I half consider myself Irish in any case.

But to answer your question, you can of course move over and work without issues as you are EU. Your wife will need to apply for a D-visa or Visa as spouse of a EU member. You need to hand in both of your passports for this and fill in a EU Form 1 application. The process can take up to 6 months during which you do not have a passport.

She can also obtain a work permit of course, but we were basically told by the GNIB (Immigration department) that you need to apply for this visa instead. Also bare in mind, work permit stamps are of lower "value" than spousal visa stamps - so for instance, you may be refused loans, mortagages etc.

B

EuroRicky
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Post by EuroRicky » Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:05 pm

Your wife will need to apply for a D-visa or Visa as spouse of a EU member. You need to hand in both of your passports for this and fill in a EU Form 1 application. The process can take up to 6 months during which you do not have a passport.
Thanks again and aplogies for the misunderstanding. The quoted part is the one we don't understand. Canada is not in the list of countries requiring a visa (I guess an entry visa at this point) but we see everywhere that you need a D-Spouse visa (to work?).

My questions:

- Is a D-Spouse visa needed for a Canadian citizen?
- If so, can you get a D-Spouse visa while outside Ireland? Maybe applying to the Irish embassy?
- What happens when you arrive at the airport? Is the Garda officer going to put a stamp to live in Ireland as a tourist or something else? I mean we don't want to lie to him/her so we'll be honest about our relocation.

Reading the official Irish government sites and the posts here I seem to understand that:

- She doesn't need a visa to enter Ireland. This is ok, been to Ireland countless times
- While there she cannot work until EU-1 residence permit is granted. This can take up to 6 months and you need to apply by post. Both passports are kept by the irish goverment. You can't leave Ireland during this period
- Where does D-Spouse visa fit in this?

Thanks for all your help.

Babstar
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Post by Babstar » Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:52 pm

hi Ricky,

i'll try and answer as clearly as possible because this stuff is confusing!
For stay up till 3 motnsh, you do not need a visa. When you enter the country the Gardai (police) will stamp you wife's passport with a 3 month entry permit (for holidays only).
If you're only staying 3 months and she is not wishing to work, you don't need to do anything else.
If you want to stay longer than 3 months or she wants to work, you will have to apply for the spousal visa which I have seen been called D-Visa (not sure why...)
So that's where you send in an application form + both of your passports, medical insurance, wedding certificate, birth cert of your children, account statements...and maybe other docs I can't remember.
They hold these until your appliaction is approved or refused and the whole can take up to 6 months. It takes 6 months, I have never seen it lasting any less. B

EuroRicky
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Post by EuroRicky » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:06 pm

Hi Babstar,

This is really confusing indeed. Ok for the first part, but how about the EU-1? :?

I thought this is what we needed to apply for.

Thanks :)

dsab85
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Post by dsab85 » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:41 pm

As you don't need a visa for Ireland, and can go almost everywhere without a visa as well you won't need to formally apply for an Irish Visa.

When you arrive in Ireland you apply at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for the Residence Permit (Green Card) via the EU1 form.

The application will take around 5 to 6 months. During these 6 months your wife is more or less a tourist in the country. Until the EU1 has been approved she cannot work. As soon as the EU1 application has been approved your wife will be issued with a residence card by the GNIB, and she can start working in Ireland.

As far as I know the first Residence Permit is issued for 1 year, and afterwards extended for 3 years at a time.
Last edited by dsab85 on Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

EuroRicky
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Post by EuroRicky » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:50 pm

Hi dsab85.

Excellent. Thanks a million for the clear explanation.

Thanks everyone for the precious help.

Best regards,

Babstar
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Post by Babstar » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:55 pm

So, u come through to immigration at the airport and they give you the 3 months stamp.

Then!

If you decide to stay, go to the Department of Justice website and look for the EU 1 Form. You can download it and it tells you what documents to send in.
You need to send everything (passport etc) to the Department of Justice by registered mail.

dsab85
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Post by dsab85 » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:03 pm

Yes, that's more or less it if spouse is a EU national.

When we applied for the residence permit via the EU1 form we provided them with Evidence of our relationship (pictures, wedding certificate, financial statements, previous visas, evidence of my employment, evidence of health insurance for the missus etc.) and both of our passports. Usually the passports stay with them, but you can request a return at any time, but schedule a few weeks for it. If you are already married for 20 years, you probably won't need as many supporting documents, but it doesn't hurt to throw it at them so that they have no reason to get back to you asking fur further stuff.

After you have applied you don't have to leave the country, even if the 3 months visa has expired. The EU1 application entitles you to stay until the application has been processed. But they don't extend it formally.

JAJ
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Post by JAJ » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:59 am

sawcebox wrote:Hi JAJ,

Unfortunately we haven't been in the UK nearly long enough to apply for landed citizenship. In a couple of years I should be able to apply for Italian citizenship in any case, so we aren't really concerned about getting Irish or British citizenship.
Bear in mind that according to anecdotal reports, it takes a long time for the Italians to process these application (ie years).

EuroRicky
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Post by EuroRicky » Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:32 am

Hi Jai,

Yeah that's true. It's not anedoctal, the law says that the application can take up to 2 years. Not something for us to bother really.

zaidatheer
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Work permit

Post by zaidatheer » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:37 pm

Hi,

I'just joined my wife in Ireland, and I am under a D-spouse visa (my wife is EU) , still haven't applied for the EU1 form yet. I have couple of questions here :
1. How long does it take to process the residence permit ? does it really take 6 months ?
2. In case a company wanted to offer me a work permit during the application process, would that makes it easier for the company to issue it ? and will the sponsoring company have to pay the work permit fees or not ? And should the job go through FAS or not necessarly ?

Thank you and Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Zaid

dsab85
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Post by dsab85 » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:36 pm

Hello Zaid,

the EU1 process def. takes up to 6 months. It appears that most people got their response after about 5 month.

My wife applied at the end of July, and we still haven't received a response.

So better prepare yourself for the full 6 months, and def. apply as soon as possible.

Cheers,
Daniel

zaidatheer
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Post by zaidatheer » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:41 pm

Thank you Daniel,

Well, I am preparing myself for the 6 month process, there seems no other option to go for. By the way Daniel, was your wife asked for a health insurance to be accompanied by the EU1 form ?

Another couple of questions, I was wondering am I going to be able to get the PPS number while my application is still under process ? and if I found a company which will sponsor me, is the process of getting work permit going to be easier ? Have you any idea about it ?

Regards,
Zaid

dsab85
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Post by dsab85 » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:13 pm

Hello Zaid,

as my wife is covered via my companys health scheme we provided a letter from my employer that she is covered via VHI.

I think the proof of health insurance was mentioned as a requirement on one of the documents.

We tried to apply for a PPS number, but didn't manage to get one. But it seems that one of the members here managed to get a PPS number without the Residence Permit.

But I know your wife will be able to claim your tax credits and the higher threshold even without PPS number, as that is what I managed to get done via the revenue office.

I doubt the work permit would be any quicker while the application is still under process. I think that are two diferent departments. But I couldn't say for sure.

Cheers,
Daniel

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