irish passport holder living in northern ireland............

[cathyy20]

hi there i live in northern ireland (and was born here), i have an irish passport.

my husband is turkish - he is able to reside in northern ireland until 2010 due to a residency permit i have which allows me to live in northern ireland

we have been married for 3 years
can he apply for irish citizenship?

i have been told so many conflicting things, ie that yes he can apply , and then no he cant as we arent living in the republic of ireland. any guidance would be much appreciated

many thanks

cathy

[yankeegirl]

Cathy,

Once your spouse has been married to you and living in Ireland for at least 3 years, then yes he can apply. Living in Northern Ireland does count when applying for Irish citizenship based on marriage to an Irish citizen. I plan on doing it myself as soon as I am eligible lol.

The only down side is the Irish government are taking in excess of 2 years to process applications

[Dawie]

Cathy, you would be better off obtaining a British passport for yourself and letting your husband go through the British immigration system rather than the Irish one which is completely dysfunctional.

[yankeegirl]

Cathy, you would be better off obtaining a British passport for yourself and letting your husband go through the British immigration system rather than the Irish one which is completely dysfunctional.

I was under the assumption from the original post that the husband is already living in Northern Ireland under the EU regulations. Irish immigration system doesn't apply to Northern Ireland at all. The only instance where the Irish are involved at all is when applying for Irish citizenship. Time spent living in NI only counts towards the residency requirement if the applicant is applying based on marriage to an Irish citizen. It doesn't matter to the Irish if they are living in NI under the EU regulatios or the UK immigration rules, just that the spouse is an Irish citizen.

So the OP's husband has the choice of applying for either an Irish or British passport. The Irish processing takes longer, but then again, who knows what the criteria will be for British citizenship will be when he will be eligible to apply for it in a few years time lol.

[Dawie]

If the OP obtained a British passport, her husband would be able to obtain a UK spouse visa and after 2 years apply for ILR and immediately apply for British citizenship (because he would have been resident in the UK for 3 years by then). This will almost certainly be far easier and take a shorter amount of time than applying for Irish citizenship.

[cathyy20]

hi everyone thanks for your help,
i was born in northern ireland so i can have either irish or briish passport. yankee girl are you the same? or do you lve in ROI?

i decided to use my irish passport for him to get his visa - as it was free, when we got married we applied for an eea family permit which we got for 6 months (through the british embassy)
then after 6 months we got a residence perment - also free(until 2010) again from british embassy.

but now he has been here 3 years we thought we could apply for irish citizenship?

[yankeegirl]

It sounds like you sure can.

https://www.reachservices.ie/reachPorta ... hp_1501_en

You can download the application form using that link. It also has the number/email address for the DOJ if you have any questions.

I live in Derry. I'm American and my husband is from Dublin. We've only been married for a year, so I've got another two years before I can apply, but I've already been looking into the process lol.

[Christophe]

i was born in northern ireland so i can have either irish or briish passport.

Actually, you can have both. You wouldn't have to give up one passport because you applied for the other.

And you are, almost certainly, a British citizen. (What year were you were born?) Obtaining a British passport (or not obtaining one) won't alter that fact; having one would merely make it easier to demonstrate your status as a British citizen should you wish to. But there is no requirement for a British citizen to have a passport.