Permenant Residency Stamp??

[Kerry-Jean]

I am an non EU National married to an Irish Citizen. I have been living in Ireland for over 4 years now on work permits. When we got married in 2008 I was given a stamp, upon returning through the airport with my marriage cert, which stated I could live/work in Ireland without restrictions until 2014. When I asked the officer why he was dating it he said that is when my passport expires. My Garda card happened to expire a few days later and when I went to re-new it GNIB issued me with a card stating stamp 4 also with this 2014 date on it. When I asked what happens after that date they said i would just need to return to get a new card. This stamp 4 has been issed to me on the basis of my marriage but I never applied for it in the way that is stated on the inis.gov website as it says there that this spouse permit will be given for an initial 12month period, I got given 6 years straight away. So what I am wanting to know, is my Stamp 4 on my G.N.I.B card as good as permenant residency card? I am doing a lot of travelling this year and if I have a EEA issued permanent residency card I will be exempt from needing ALOT of visa's....

Any one know if I can use my stamp 4 Garda card as a residence card?

[acme4242]

If you need other EU Visas e.g. Irish, UK or Schengen, depends on your passport.
Irish Family resident permit STAMP-4 does not help.
Only 4EUFam cards, can substitute as an EU visa.

Sadly, due to an Irish Policy of reverse discrimination against Irish Families,
The Irish Authorities only give you a STAMP-4, which is useless for EU travel
and even entry back into Ireland.
Depending on your nationality, you may also need to apply for an Irish Visa, to get back into Ireland
Even you are Irish Family. with Irish Family resident permit STAMP-4

I strongly suggest your Irish spouse complains to his TD about this nonsense.

Note that other EU countries apply Directive 2004/38 to its own citizens,
Ireland does not.

Here are a list of known EU states, that apply Directive 2004/38 to its own citizens.
Portugal
Spain
France (almost 100%)
Italy
Belgium
Romania

[Kerry-Jean]

Thank you for your comment and advice.
I have a South African passport, which means I need visa's for most of the countrys I am travelling to.
Unfortunatly they are not in Europe so a Shengan visas is not even going to help me. This means in the next few weeks I will have to apply for a number of visa's which is SO irritating and expensive, time off work unpaid etc!! I have been living in the EU since 2001 but as this has been spilt between various countries I have not qualified for an EU passport..... I have had 9 years of visa dramas and am honestly at the end of my tether.....

[Ben]

You should be eligible for naturalisation as an Irish citizen next year.

[Kerry-Jean]

Yeah, I will qualify in Nov 2010 for citizenship, which will atke another 2 years no doubt. I actually should qualify in March 2010 as this is when I started living and working in Ireland but because I was working as a volunteer ( full time might I add ) they do not recognaise this as work, even though I have documents to prove I was in fact working but just not receiving any payment as this would make my work illigal. I was actually volunteered for a STATE run institution for 6 months before they applied for a work permit for me so I could start earning a salary. I was actually SAVING the government money but this does not seem to make any difference. I supported myself fully throughout these 6 months. I should in fact have Irish citizenship as my grand parents on both sides were Irish but we dont have the birth certs to prove this. My maiden name is Sullivan but apparently this does not prove ancestory to Ireland....So, being of Irish decent, being married to an irish national, living and working in Ireland for 5 years and they still cant give me a permenant residency stamp until I can apply in Nov 2010 which will be too late for all my travels this year as it takes up to 6 months to process this application... I am completely fed-up!!

[Ben]

I should in fact have Irish citizenship as my grand parents on both sides were Irish but we dont have the birth certs to prove this.

Have you tried obtaining copies?
http://www.groireland.ie/apply_for_a_cert.htm

[acme4242]

Dear Kerry-Jean,

You are raising a lot of points here. I can only address a few.
1) There is no requirement that you must work.
As spouse of an Irish Citizen. you just need to be married 3 years,
and be resident 3 out of 5 years. With the last year continuous resident.

2) Many people have obtained Irish Passports, who claim to have Irish
Grandparents. But no birth cert. There is a back door, when you
don't have paperwork.
You need to learn more about Irish ways of doing things.
Each TD has a privilege to approach the Minister for Justice, on
this very subject, on your behalf, and the Minister is authorised
is issue the passport.
This was one of the issues of Bertie Ahern, who gave Irish passports
to his finance supporters in England Who did not have birth certs as
proof .
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0130/ahernb.html

He pointed out that Norman Turner's mother was born in Cork and as such Mr Turner was entitled to a passport.
And he said in 2007, 6,000 passport applications were processed in this way - through the intervention of Oireachtas members.

Here is some more info
http://www.irishancestries.com/citizenship.htm

Irish Citizenship by Descent
Required Documentation
For your Irish born grandparent:

1. Certified copy of your grand-parents Irish birth certificate if born after 1864, otherwise a church baptismal register together with a search certificate from the General Register Office of Ireland stating that no Irish civil birth certificate exists.
2. Certified copy of your grand-parents marriage certificate.
3. Notarized copy of proof of identity (e.g. drivers license, passport). If your grandparent has died, a certified copy of the death certificate is required.

[Kerry-Jean]

Thanks again your reply

I have asked my family in South Africa to try and track down these documents. Not an easy task but hopefully something will turn up. I cant send off requests to get a copy here in Ireland as we dont actually have the infomation they are needing to do the search.

I did actually apply for citizenship 3 weeks ago and subitted a nice letter stating all this with it but on friday I got a letter in the post saying that because I can not prove my ancesory the Minister can not waiver the 5 year residency clause. If, by some miracle, the infomation I need to get copies of the birth certs I need is found and I am able to send it to the Citizenship office, I wonder if they would have kept my application that was declined now? Or will I have to re-do the enitire thing and re-send ALL the documents again? I will be phoning them first thing on Monday...

I am also wondering if because in my situation, the minister of justice will be waiving a clause do to my decent, will still end up waiting 2-3years for the certificate to be issued?

Would I TD actually give me an appointment with him/her to discuss all this?

[Kerry-Jean]

One more thing, When I went to Immigration Office and gave them my details they definiatly said that my residency status only begins when I start work on work permits , NOT from when i entered the state and worked as a volunteer for 6 months. they said that because i was not paying tax that it is not recognaised. I tried to explain to them that I was actually paying tax, VAT, bus tickets etc and general living expenses but they were having none of it... Just kept repeating that my residency only started with my first work permit issued...

[acme4242]

One more thing, When I went to Immigration Office and gave them my details they definiatly said that my residency status only begins when I start work on work permits , NOT from when i entered the state and worked as a volunteer for 6 months. they said that because i was not paying tax that it is not recognaised. I tried to explain to them that I was actually paying tax, VAT, bus tickets etc and general living expenses but they were having none of it... Just kept repeating that my residency only started with my first work permit issued...

There is no requirement that you must work, if you apply as spouse of an
Irish Citizen.
You received wrong information.

3 years marriage, 3 years residence while married. That is it.
There is some other stuff, about clean criminal record. That's all

[Kerry-Jean]

Your Links provide some very interesting reading!! Thanks for attaching them!

I was married in Dec 2008, but I have proof my husband and I have lived together in our home in Ireland since Nov 2005, which I did submitt with my application. I realise that we need to live here as husband and wife for 3 years for me to qualify for citizenship through him, but coupled with the fact that I have irish ancestory and having been living and working here since March 2005 thought that just maybe someone would take pity on my case.....clearly not!
I know I will eventually qualify for citizenship but I am just sick to death of battling bureaucracy for almost 10years now...