Periods of Residency for Citizenship Applications

[scrudu]

So I thought we were finally ready for my husband to submit his citizenship application (as spouse of Irish citizen) but talking to pretty unsure operator on the INIS Citizenship helpline, now I am not so sure.

The requirements from the Citizenship leaflet No3states the following (ignoring all other requirements as those are definitely met):

• You are married to your Irish citizen spouse for a period of not less than 3 years.
• You have had immediately before the date of the application a period of one year’s continuous residence in the island of Ireland, and
• You have had, during the 4 years immediately preceding that period, a total residence in the island of Ireland amounting to 2 years.

The Citizens Advicewebsite says the following:

# You must be married to the Irish citizen for at least 3 years
# You must have had a period of 1 year's continuous "reckonable residence" in the island of Ireland immediately before the date of your application
# You must have been living on the island of Ireland for at least 2 of the 4 years before that year of continuous residence

My husband's Entry history looks like this:

• May - Aug 2006 - Entered on C Tourist Visa, Visa Reason "Marry Irish Spouse". Left after marriage to apply for D Spouse visa to reutrn (3 mths Resident)
  Jul 2006 - Married
  Oct 2006 - pres - Entered on D Spouse Visa, then issued Stamp 4 (2 yrs 9 mths Resident)

So from what I can see

• Has been married 3 years = Yes (will be in early Jul)
  Has lived for 1 year continuously in the island of Ireland immediately preceding application = Yes
  Have been living on the Island of Ireland for at least 2 years before that 1 year = Yes

Other info in the Citizenship leaflet No3 says:

When calculating periods of residence in the State for the purposes of an application for a certificate of naturalisation, certain periods may be excluded from the reckoning. These are periods where your presence in the State was not properly documented, or (in certain cases) periods covered by a permission to remain which was for study purposes or while having a claim for asylum examined. For Non-EEA citizens: by law to have permission to remain in the State, but did not, will not be reckoned (remember that certain non - nationals are exempted by law from the requirement to have permission to remain). In addition, periods of residence in the State will not be reckoned which were covered by a permission to remain if that permission was –
• For the purposes of study (whether or not that study involved you being in employment during any of the period of study), or
• While your claim for asylum was being examined.

So he was properly documented while here on a Tourist visa, was not having a refugee application processed, was not studying, so as far as I can calculate, he would meet the requirement of living here for the required 2 years out of the 4 years before that year of continuous "reckonable" residence. But when I asked the Operator, she said that the time starts from when you get a GNIB Card, which would be October 2006. This would mean we've to wait another 4 months before applying. She didn't sound sure at all and said "Well it would be safer to wait and apply in October". Does this make any sense to anyone?

[zzz]

But when I asked the Operator, she said that the time starts from when you get a GNIB Card, which would be October 2006. This would mean we've to wait another 4 months before applying. She didn't sound sure at all and said "Well it would be safer to wait and apply in October". Does this make any sense to anyone?

I'd say Operator is right - they only count actual (GNIB) stamps in a passport.
So, it will be October for your husband to apply.

[sideshowsue]

I agree with the INIS operator. Reckonable residence begins from the date a residence card is issued--time spent on tourist visas etc is not 'residence' in the strict sense.

[scrudu]

If that is the case, I wish they would get their bloody definitions properly defined on their websites. There is no concept of Fiancé visa so he had to apply for a Tourist Visa (2nd one actually). As he had applied for this visa and had entered via Immigration Channel at Dublin Airport, he was legally resident here. If periods spent on Tourist Visas is not considered valid residence, then it should be written somewhere. From everything I read in Leaflet No3, it would seem he has completed the required residency. But I do believe that it's not how it's being handed by the DoJ