Public funds, FIS - spouse visa

[missirish]

Hi all

I am in irish born citizen and my partner is a non EU visa required national.
I have been browsing the documents required for the spouse visa, and i am somewhat concerned..

I have children from previous marriage. I have an accounting degree and have been made redundant. I was searching for a job but recently discovered that im pregnant.. I intend to secure employment as soon as i can after the baby is born.. I am worried though that i would never be able to earn enough to not be entitled to FIS.. When i was working previously, i never claimed FIS even though i was entitled to it.. I am genuinely a firm believer of only claiming what i need to.. with my earnings previously i was managing well without the need to claim FIS..

My partner has excellent savings approx 15000 euro and will have more by the time we are ready to apply for spousal visa (we dont intend to apply until my financial is more secure) but Im still starting to think that my husband will never be able to join me here.. Im starting to lose hope!! He will provide support for the baby from his own country while he is there and has given me a bank card so that i can withdraw here in ireland from his bank account.

There is also another issue on my mind that i would appreciate your help with..

He has been getting visit visas previously..He wants to be here for the birth..I wondering what the best course of action is.. we cant prove paternity while im pregnant . Im worried they wont give us the visit visa for him to come for the birth because they will worry he wont go back because of the baby. Should we tell them about the pregnancy or just apply for visit visa as we have been doing .. and apply for multi entry visa then after the birth until we are ready to apply for spousal visa/defacto.. will they claim we were dishonest with them ?
I was thinking he should apply for visit visa and not mention pregnancy, then go to solicitors office and prepare a joint guardianship agreement and access agreement via affia davit, do up birth certs as declaration of paternity and apply for passport for the baby and then produce documentation to apply for multi entry visas just to visit till we decide to go permanent.. We want to be honest as possible but we are living in fear.
I dont think zambrino will apply in our case as he has never been resident here in Ireland. (weare unmarried but plan to marry civilly in the future)

Your advice would be greatly appreciated xxxxxxxxxxx

[missirish]

I forgot to add.. We are together three and half years with face to face meetings and he is an Electrical Engineer. His occupation is on the highly skilled list ..

[IntegratedMigrant]

Since he wants to see the born of the baby, you can apply for a visit visa as he normally does, but you can add the details of him wanting to witness the born of the new baby.

They wont doubt him much about him being the father of the baby and never gonna return to his home country after the visit, because he had been issued with a visit visa in the past which he observed the conditions.

[missirish]

Thank you very much for your response.. Do you think we should wait then to apply for multiple entry visa until after the birth as it would give him a valid reason to want to re enter and just apply for single entry this time ?

considering im not working, he has made hotel bookings in the past, do you think that if i told them he could stay at my house and he would pay expenses that they would still require me to hand up bank statements from myself as proof of support ? My statements would not be that impressive at the moment !!

[IntegratedMigrant]

Thank you very much for your response.. Do you think we should wait then to apply for multiple entry visa until after the birth as it would give him a valid reason to want to re enter and just apply for single entry this time ?

Well it will be a very long time until you give birth?, and you wouldnt get to see him. What I'll suggest is get him to apply for single entry and he'll stay for 3 months and then go back. He can them apply for multi-entry after the birth.

Reason that I suggest this is that he is known to the immigration for observing his visa conditions and that a huge advantage.

[IntegratedMigrant]

considering im not working, he has made hotel bookings in the past, do you think that if i told them he could stay at my house and he would pay expenses that they would still require me to hand up bank statements from myself as proof of support ? My statements would not be that impressive at the moment !!

You mentioned that he has approx 15,000, and a bank statement with his Visa application will be essential. That will prove that he is self sufficient.

You can say that he'll stay at your house but that he'll support himself during his stay in Ireland. You do not need to provide your bank statement nor mention anything about work.

[missirish]

Thank you for your kind attention to my question !!

[Brigid from Ireland]

AFTER the baby is born dad can apply to remain in Ireland and for permission to work here, as the family member of the Irish citizen child. He would have a good chance of success, as the courts here have ruled that a child is entitled to the company of both parents. The fact that he has never lived in Ireland does not count - what counts is that the child is entitled to the care of the father.

In the case I know of the newborn infant went to court to get permission for the father to stay in Ireland, as the father was on a deportation list. The right is a right of the child, so it was the child who made the application to the court, via a solicitor on the instructions of the parents.

[missirish]

Thank you very much brigid.. I was wondering if you know the name of the case so that i can argue precedent if needed.. i would love to gather a few case studies.. preferably irish case studies.. re access to child (father) and rights of the child !!

[Brigid from Ireland]

The general case cited is Zambrano. I think it is the best case as a lot of people are in Ireland 'on Zambrano'.

Another is
Elukanlo & Anor v Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform

You will find it on bailli - just google that word. It is a high court of Ireland decision in 2006.

To trigger these rights it is best if the father is in Ireland for the birth and makes his application to remain immediately after the birth. The child can also apply for his father to remain, if necessary.

Incidentally if you are on Jobseekers Allowance and your partner decides to live with you then you can add him to the JA. Apply to add him to your social welfare the moment the child is born, assuming you plan to live together.

[missirish]

Just wanted to let you know that he was successful in his application for a multi entry visa,its valid for two years .. we decided honesty was the best policy and informed them of pregnancy and decided going for the multi would be the best route to go for us at this time. We just wrote the truth.. Told them all our fears on separate letters, that we have great affection for each other and that all we wanted was to feel a little security and certainty for the future, told them how terrified we were of all this uncertainty.. Thank God for the visa officer who reviewed our case. He/She still has the ability to be able to see genuine applications instead of being suspicious about everything they read.. Its refreshing to feel that they don't view all applicants as those with dishonorable intentions . We never imagined we would get two years.. its nice to finally have a little tiny bit of peace for some time and to feel rewarded for honesty. I want to thank you so much for your help.. Your information made our application very thorough... You helped me get into the right frame of mind for the wording of my letter.. only for you all i dont think i would have had the incite to cover everything..