No Job and Running Out of Time

[kramer1]

Hi Guys,

I'm in Ireland with my wife, I'm from the UK and she is from the US. We have 2 weeks left on my wife's visa. The intention was to get here and find work and build a business as a back up to exercise my EU rights. Just before we planned to leave the UK I became very ill, I spent 3 weeks in hospital one of which was in intensive care. Since we have been in Ireland I have been to hospital twice the most recent was for a week. I am on a waiting list for surgery and feel weak most of the time.
I still want to work and feel able to at the moment, I have been applying for jobs and handing my CV out to local businesses. I wanted to make sure we got a place to live so we moved to an area with low rent prices, the problem is there is a lot less work here than I realized. I have registered with a couple of employment agency's, but I haven't had any work yet. The stress of this situation has been very hard on both of us, and it gets worse the less time we have. I don't really have a plan B, my wife doesn't have anywhere to stay in the US, and I can't even contemplate having to be separated from her.

I'm gonna keep trying to get a job. I have registered a business, it was going to be a physical business but I have changed it to a completely online business. I have been developing a series of a digital products that I can sell on a 3rd party website. I have nearly finished the first one. I should be able to start selling it in a few days. Will this be considered as self employment when I send off the EU1 form? I will be working on marketing the product and developing more products. The website will not pay me until 30 days after the product has sold, will this be an issue as we only have a couple of weeks left on the visa?

Any advise about the business, job ideas, EU1 form or general info would be most appreciated, Thank you

[robsters]

my advise would be submit the eu1 form what ever you have with a covering letter about your business and that your forward on the documents later, I have read they take 6 months to process the application in this time if you pick up a job send the contract to them with a new covering letter you changed your job, basically at this point you have nothing to lose as your wife will have to leave in a week if you submit the eu1 form they should stamp her a temp stamp 4 for 6 months, eu1 would prob get refused if your business does not make enough money but i also head there a back log with the eu1 forms so at the very least it could buy you time. I warn its just from my judgement not to be taken as serious advise but if i was in your situation i would go with what i had and try get better paper work and job quick as possible and use it to BUY TIME

i wish you best of luck, me and my wife are in dublin at the moment and they gave her only 30 days and still looking for work but i managed to get her a stamp 3 for 90 days which has helped and got some interviews this week for basic jobs but fingers crossed

[kramer1]

Thanks so much for the reply, that is good advise and makes feel better about the situation. Hope things go well for you too.

[robsters]

just double check on the temp stamp 4 as i said still researching myself and it may not work at all!! but at very least if that is your situation try to run with what you have and i pray for you it buys you time at least, its a sickening situation for us brits I'm losing all my life savings over this to keep us afloat it makes me very sad we have to all suffer like this while others walk into uk easy

[kramer1]

I appreciate it, thanks. Yeah I'm just gonna have to send what info I have I guess. I agree with what you said, it is seriously messed up. I will have used up my savings soon and will be on to the credit cards, I have put my health at risk, It has caused problems in my family, not to mention all the stress. but mustn't grumble lol. Thanks again for your help.

I would appreciate any views on whether my wife is likely to get the stamp 4 or not, thanks.

[jeupsy]

Sorry to tell you this, but if there is absolutely no documentation of your employement situation enclosed with the application they are not very likely to issue the temporary stamp 4 (being an economic migrant is key to exercising EU treaty rights).

I know it can be frustrating if you have good education and a specific field you want to work in - but have you tried crap part time jobs? Even if it is just a few hours a week and poorly paid, it would put you in a much better situation witht the immigration authorities.

Otherwise make sure your own business looks serious. If you could include some purchase orders (or even better cash receipts), to show that you got the ball rolling it would make it look better and they might issue the temporary stamp 4 and ask you to submit more in a few months to prove business has really kicked-off.