citizenship through marriage - northern ireland

[chaoclive]

It says Irish people...this might be a problem for me too. However, what about emailing INIS and asking?

[amiramum]

Ive emailed them loads of times with no reply. He will just put irish down to be on the safe side.. his boss and others he works with r irish so they wilk do it.

[judyseto]

Hello,

I know this thread has been inactive for a while now, but just wondering if anyone has more information to share, or if anyone has applied for Irish citizenship from Northern Ireland and has news to report back on the outcome of their application. I'm a Canadian citizen, married to an Irish/British national. We've been married three years and have been living in Belfast for three years as well. I'm planning to submit my application in the next month or two and am hoping that I don't miss anything important.

Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[yankeegirl]

I'm in Northern Ireland also. I sent my application for Irish citizenship off at the end of May and am waiting for a result. A friend of mine applied in September 2014 (also from NI) and he just attended the citizenship ceremony last month.

[judyseto]

Thanks for the reply. Do you mind me asking what your/your friend's status is here? In terms of showing residency permission, do you know if it's enough to show proof of address (utility bills, etc)? I've been fighting the home office for the last three years and so don't yet have a visa or a residence card, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not.

[yankeegirl]

My friend had a 5 year EU residence card, so he submitted that along with the proofs of address, etc. It's hard to say if they will ask for a visa or residence card, but my guess would be that they would want to see something. My status was a bit complicated. I originally had a 5 year EU residence card, but was turned down for permanent residence, as my husband was no longer working due to him being a full-time carer (we have 2 disabled children). We appealed to the first tier tribunal and we weren't successful so I then applied for FLR(FP) and got that. I put in my application for Irish citizenship a week or two after I got the FLR visa. But, I do have a gap where I cannot prove legal residence via any visas but I was legal because I had an application pending. So, we shall see. What sort of problems are you having with the Home Office?

[ninjaman]

Hi there,
I received my citizenship on 17th July and I can definitely say that they will ask you to show them the visa..

I applied while my visa was valid, (me non eea, wife eea) in the middle of the citizenship application my UK visa expired. They stopped the process until I could show them the valid UK visa.

I had no choice but to apply for UK permanent residence, then I sent the copy of my passport and finally they continued with the citizenship application

Below is a snippet of my previous post regarding the matter
==================
I applied for Irish naturalisation around september 2013.

I'm non-eu and my wife is from Northern Ireland holding Irish passport.
at the time of my application i had 5 year residence permit from the UK government which expired earlier this year 2014.

I provided all the details they needed and the whole process went so smooth, it even went into the second stage. last week, they asked me to see the permission stamp again, so I send copies again.

to my surprise, they replied:

No further processing of your application for naturalisation will take place untill such a time as you provide your current residency permission from the UKBA confirming the date you are legally resident in Northern ireland and expiry date. the permit held on file expired on DD/MM/2014"

I'm gutted!
=================

Regards,
Ninjaman
P.S apologies for any typos, am typing using the phone

[judyseto]

Thanks all for sharing (and congrats on receiving your citizenship, ninjaman). My application for an EU residence card was refused and we've been appealing that decision (with little success so far). So, while I've been here legally, I don't have official residency status in the UK. By the sounds of it, it might be a waste of money for me to submit an application for citizenship at this point, but I'm not sure what other options I have. Hope all goes well with your application Yankeegirl.

[chaoclive]

Might help to email them on: citizenshipinfo@justice.ie. I know that it says to call them on the INIS website but it's worth a try! Explain your situation and show them the proof that you were legal (according to the EEA regulations) and see what they say.

My civil partner might have a little issue when we apply in a few years time too. He had an EEA family permit on entry to Northern Ireland (August 2015) but didn't get his residence card until December 2014 (processing time). I'm not sure if they will look at this gap. Hope they don't ask us to delay his citizenship application