Refused UK Tourist visa considering EEA Family permit

[Irishstu]

Hi there,

I need help with this badly as I've read so many comments which has put my head in a spin...

Circumstances

I hold dual passports UK & Irish, been in a relationship with my now Ukrainian to be wife this February 2017. My girlfriend at the time was in the Northern Ireland on a working visa for 11 months then left in July 2016, we applied for a tourist visa within a couple of months for her to come back on holidays and to visit myself but it was refused which after I can see why as we didnt provide enough information. We waited until December 2016 to apply again but this time we submitted more than enough information and details but again this was refused and the excuses was pathetic to say the least like they didn't read the documents provided!

After the second refusal we spoke with immigration agents in Ukraine and they said that they are basically refusing everyone at present probably due the brexit and heat currently on them for letting in people but doesn't help as we still got refused and the agents aren't that clued up on the EEA family permit as they didn't have a clue what it was or eventually yes they knew of it but not know very little...

Now as we got engaged in Sept 2016 in Ukraine and I have been out a few times visiting etc and we plan to marry in Ukraine in February with a family wedding etc so we will be married and ready to apply for a visa around the beginning of March.

As you can imagine finances aren't healthy with the wedding and travelling quite a bit and with having to go through the UK passport route again for the marriage this can be costly especially if they keep refusing with us having to get lawyers involved so I want to get this right as you can imagine!

So after reading and hearing so much about the EEA Family permit route as I've an Irish passport should I now go down this route and does that mean I need to give up my UK citizenship to be able to do this?
what are the drawbacks to me giving up my british citizenship?
what else should I be aware of?
Will our previous applications for tourist visa go against us?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated as we don't want to get this wrong this time...

Thanks

Irishstu

[noajthan]

Immigration history should not be a factor as FP is assessed under EEA Regulations.
See other threads in forum on pros and cons of Irish citizen giving up British citizenship.