HELP!! - Irish guy looking to marry American girl....

Hi all,

I met my gf while I was in america last summer. We have been travelling back and forth to each other since then and we have decided to get married and then hopefully stay in Ireland. I've been all over the net looking for information in relation to this and am totally confused at this stage. Which is the best option, here or the States? If we get married here will she really not be able to work for 18 months? I've so many questions I dont even know where to start!! If some one could give me a brief overview of the process or timeline of events I would be very grateful!!!!

Thanks

J

I dont mean to be short, but if you check through this forum (Ireland), you'll find many answers on this topic!

Order of Events.

#1 Get married.

#2 Enjoy Wedded Bliss

#3 File EU1 (having blind faith that Ireland will process It in time)

#4 Six months later savings dried up no money mind lost whining you had gone to the U.S.

#5 Try in vain to contact Department of justice to see what is happening.

#6 Give up and move somewhere else.

Dude Check all your options make sure you have everything in order then sit tight and wait.

Options :

1. Get married in Ireland. 4 months paperwork before this for the Irish to believe that you can marry.
After getting married, wait for Irish paperwork for a long time.
While you are already married, file for K3 in Dublin embassy as a backup plan - it will take a long time for you to get the papers to be able to stay in US, but get them done ASAP. If you that way get enough of Ireland, you both can go to US then. K3 should take anything between 7-12+ months to process, but it is a good backup plan. Once you get the green card, there is no immediate "must go now" requirements attached with it, but believe me, it is a nice backup plan (especially if this is the first time for her to be longer time abroad then).

2. Get to US, and get married there. This has 2 options :
a) Get fiancee visa, K1. This can take half a year .. with that processed and in hand, you will have 3 months time to get married when you are in US. After getting married there, you can file for the rest, AOS etc and get then relatively fast. Ideally don't leave the country before your paperwork is fully solved as most likely there will be problems getting back to US.
b) Get to US for the purpose of other than seeing your other half (when asked in border), such as shopping, conference etc. Don't mention words like girlfriend, fiancee, marry, immigrate, move. Just go shopping, have a return ticket that is credible (a week or 2 weeks), and very little luggage. And don't panic. When you are in US, get married ASAP - you can get that done as 90 days waiver, when your initial purpose of visit wasn't getting married. Then you can file AOS, and you will be processed faster still than if you got married in Ireland and filed for K3, or if you went with K1 route. Downsides : Your official purpose of visit must be other than meeting your other half. Provide evidence that your purpose is some generic conference, shopping etc. And that you have valid return ticket, and that you have plans to come back (just in case. Letter from work, from landlord, and bank statements ..) to Ireland. Other downside is that when you file for AOS after, you will have to stay in US until most of the paperwork is processed. But this will provide the option to get the working status fastest for you.

Fastest? 2b-option. Fly to NYC or California with return ticket, then from there fly to Vegas or where ever you want to get married, Las Vegas being one good option. After you are married, file for AOS, and wait.

If you will have to call USCIS hotline ever, be aware that their information isn't always correct. Believing what they said cost me being forced to stay in different country than my husband for a year, my job and nearly my rented accommodation, since the US border did not like half a bit of what USCIS had told us. Not fun ...

And good luck which ever route you will choose!

As you are Irish and wishing to live in Ireland, the EU1 isn't for you. It's for non-EU spouses of non-Irish EU citizens who wish to settle in Ireland. (Unless the Irish have a Surinder Singh-type law that applies to you.)

I think it's a bit more straightforward for Irish citizens, but there are still horror stories.

It's a big pain in the mule to get married in Ireland. However, if you're in no hurry (i.e., if you're willing to take the 3 month waiting period, and then the half a year to get an appointment in Dublin), then Ireland's an option.

0000

Hi All,

Sorry Guiglej2, I'm not trying to highjack your thread but I am looking at my options as an Irish citizen by naturalization to get legal status for my wife.
My case might be very similar to yours, with the difference that I've already got married in Ireland more than a year ago and we've decided to stay in Ireland (we bought a house here and we have an Irish born child).

Looks like I might get my Irish citizenship before my wife is going to get her long term residence in Ireland.

What options would I have to apply as an Irish citizen, for my wife's visa and how long it would take?

I am more concerned with the time that it will take to process her visa reguest.

I'm also very worried by the fact that her visa expired long ago but she is still in Ireland.

I am afraid that she may have to leave Ireland and apply for visa from my home country (this would be a little bit better because it's an EU country now) or she would have to go to her home country - Non EU country - were she doesn't have anywere to stay (this is not really an option because it would take for sure, a lot more time, money and effort).

The EU1 option is not recommended for the moment due to the fact that we were residents only in Ireland, before and after the marriage and I'm not sure if this still counts as beeing resident in a EU country after we got married in Febr. 2006 and until now. Besides, I don't facy sending all our original documents to a this "EU treaty Department" and then try in vain to recover them.

Any advice?

Regards,

Mendo

P.S. You can find my full story here:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=16209
________
Harold arthur poling

if going down the eu1 route maybe live in northern ireland for a while as it is suppose to be in the uk. although the citizenship act mentions island of ireland which includes the north, it can technically still might be considered another eu state as its not in our jurisdiction. you know yourself that people in NI can have british and irish passports. have a good look at the citizenship act 1956-2004 and seek advise on this


as you are an irish citizen you defintely would have to go to another eu state in order to enjoy your eu treaty rights of free movement of coming to ireland and family reunification, (non eu/eea gf-wife would have to legally reside of course) in order to avail

ni would not be that bad at least you can pop down to see the family whenever you wish. this is just top of the head so appologises if not useful. sorry. a lighter note, seen she is from america, any chance of her having a irish grandparent
or parent?

the alternative would be to get her to get a work permit or some form of long term residency here then after 3 years she might naturalise.

walrusgumble wrote:if going down the eu1 route maybe live in northern ireland for a while as it is suppose to be in the uk.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, not "supposed to be".

A United Kingdom visa or permit will be require to live or work there (if not an EEA/Swiss citizen). An Irish permit or visa is not acceptable.

although the citizenship act mentions island of ireland which includes the north, it can technically still might be considered another eu state as its not in our jurisdiction.

It is another EU state.

you know yourself that people in NI can have british and irish passports. have a good look at the citizenship act 1956-2004 and seek advise on this

People in Northern Ireland are British citizens.

If the Republic of Ireland chooses to offer Irish citizenship to certain members of the community in Northern Ireland (or anywhere else), that is a matter for the Irish government and electorate.

as you are an irish citizen you defintely would have to go to another eu state in order to enjoy your eu treaty rights of free movement of coming to ireland and family reunification, (non eu/eea gf-wife would have to legally reside of course) in order to avail

Irish citizens also have the right to sponsor for United Kingdom visas under domestic United Kingdom laws.

JAJ wrote:

walrusgumble wrote:if going down the eu1 route maybe live in northern ireland for a while as it is suppose to be in the uk.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, not "supposed to be".

A United Kingdom visa or permit will be require to live or work there (if not an EEA/Swiss citizen). An Irish permit or visa is not acceptable.

although the citizenship act mentions island of ireland which includes the north, it can technically still might be considered another eu state as its not in our jurisdiction.

It is another EU state.

People in Northern Ireland are British citizens.

If the Republic of Ireland chooses to offer Irish citizenship to certain members of the community in Northern Ireland (or anywhere else), that is a matter for the Irish government and electorate.

as you are an irish citizen you defintely would have to go to another eu state in order to enjoy your eu treaty rights of free movement of coming to ireland and family reunification, (non eu/eea gf-wife would have to legally reside of course) in order to avail

Irish citizens also have the right to sponsor for United Kingdom visas under domestic United Kingdom laws.

i am well aware of the constitutional/political situation in the 6 counties and that the rule of law of england and wales applies in ni.(please not trying to be condensending) what i was not sure on was if there are expections to ni when eu law comes in with regard to these very issues. but you clarified the situation on these issues. i am aware that a british visa would be needed, but are they easier to get than here? if they are well, if it was possible for spouse to get them, wouldnt that help in satisfying the "living in another eu state"? and you also mentioned the right to sponsor in uk. would that help? i was just saying that if they wanna satisfy the eu1 requirement as soon as possible, then provided that they have money, it would not be the end of the world as he could still see his family in this state more often than if he lived somewhere else in europe.

you say that people in northern ireland are british! yes techincally and legally that is true, but not completely (no political or history nonsense from my part). but, under section 6 of the citizenship act of 1956-2004, if a person was born in northern ireland to parents who were irish or british, that child could select to apply for an irish passport as the constitution and this domestic legisaltion recognises that a person born on the island of ireland (that includes the 6 counties so hence my inital hesitation on the above post) have an entitlement from birth to be part of this nation. so in response to the last bit, domestic law is there for certain people of northern ireland who wish to choose their nationality as been irish.

an example of where people in northern ireland can prove their nationality was 3 years ago. fifa were proposing for administrative reasons, that members of the northern ireland soccer team should all hold british passports. that proposal was ruled out as members of that team who are from the nationalist side who hold irish passports declared that they would not play for the team again if fifa rule came in as it would violate their rights under article 2 and 3 of bunreacht na heireann.