Irish citizenship application - married to an Irish spouse in NI

[eraylankester]

Hi guys,

My US wife is intending to apply for Irish citizenship this October. Living in NI with me from Sep 14, we were married in Belfast on October 16th 2014. I was born in NI, and am a dual UK/Irish citizenship. We have lived in Belfast since this date, so she should be eligible to apply using marriage & 3 years reckonable residence. Is this true?

Can anyone give advice on what documents we need to supply, and if we should obtain a PSNI certificate to support the application? Much of the documents stipulated in the form assume residence in the ROI; what differences, if any, should I be aware of when applying from NI?

I have tried to obtain legal help with our application in Belfast, but firms seem to be unwilling to advise on ROI immigration procedures.

Thanks in advance

[Wanderer]

Thought it was 5 years.....

[CR001]

Thought it was 5 years.....

3 years if married to an Irish citizen and all requirements are met.

[crisbella218]

Hi guys,

My US wife is intending to apply for Irish citizenship this October. Living in NI with me from Sep 14, we were married in Belfast on October 16th 2014. I was born in NI, and am a dual UK/Irish citizenship. We have lived in Belfast since this date, so she should be eligible to apply using marriage & 3 years reckonable residence. Is this true?

Can anyone give advice on what documents we need to supply, and if we should obtain a PSNI certificate to support the application? Much of the documents stipulated in the form assume residence in the ROI; what differences, if any, should I be aware of when applying from NI?

I have tried to obtain legal help with our application in Belfast, but firms seem to be unwilling to advise on ROI immigration procedures.

Thanks in advance

Yes 3 years resident on Island of Ireland with no breaks over 6 weeks (this is counted as not being resident).

Documents I submitted and approved:

My birth certificate (certified copy)
My Passport bio page (certified copy)
Spouse passport bio page (certified copy)
Spouse Birth certificate (certified copy)
Son's Irish passport (certified copy)
Son's birth certificate (certified copy)
Marriage certificate (certified copy)
UK Biometric card copy (certified copy)
Various Tourist Irish visas over the last 3 years (certified copies)
Copy of last 3 pay slips
Last P60
3 different bills for me and my spouse for last 3 months at our current address
Bills for the last 3 years for myself showing date and address
PSNI Criminal Record Check
Letter from employer
Last 3 months bank statements
2 passport photos
Application form

Get a solicitor to do the certified copies.

Check out my other postings for other details.

Good Luck.

[Mark AJ]

Hi and thanks in advance for any help or advice that may be offered.

My australian wife has been living with me in the north of Ireland for 15 years and we intend now to apply for her Irish citizenship as Brexit has the potential to render useless her ten year eea residence permission issued two years ago. Upon reading the application I have a few issues. That is, some months prior to her previous 5 year permit expiring we applied to renew under the spouse of an eea national exercising treaty rights but this was refused but after a lengthy battle her current 10 year permission was granted (2 years ago) after learning of and invoking the 'transitional arrangement,. However, due to the length of time taken there is a slight gap in permissions even though we have British home office letters confirming her right to stay during applications.

The Irish application does ask for completion of a residency checker based on stamps and this will show this one particular void. How do we treat this on the application and does this have an adverse affect on our application?

Whilst here I would also raise the following issues on the application that I would appreciate direction on:
1) It states that a PSC card is required but in the North oriel and surely these aren't available?
2) Regarding identification it states a requirement for a PPSN number and again in the North we don't have one?
3) A GNIB/IRP card or registration number is required and again in the north we don't have one?
4) Application details that absences from the state exceeding 6 years must be noted but being from the North we were never resident I the state itself but were and are in the North?

For the record we have veered away from a uk application as there is a fee of in or around £1200 with no guarantees. Furthermore, the application form appears complicated and the only solicitor in the north has quoted between £400 to £700 pounds!

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

[Manmoth]

My wife and I were in practically exactly the same situation (even got married 4th October 2014 lol), and we were rejected.

Few things which might help you that I wish I knew:
- They keep all your documents (except passport) even if rejected, so make copies. It's kinda difficult to re-apply without documentation.
- The rejection was very vague, but we think what they were getting at is that they needed formal acknowledgement from UKBA that my wife had permission to be here. We thought the EEA family permit would have been enough to show she came here legally, particularly with the residence card the year after. At least, that's what our lawyer thinks. Really, you want her to have been here 3 years after getting the residence card, not just after living here. Just assume that the application place really hates immigrants and will reject you on any excuse possible, and you get the idea. I guess 15 years should be pretty watertight.
- Speaking of which, no one, as you said, will touch this kind of topic here for some reason, so we found a place in Limerick that's about £150 for an initial session and seems to include follow up questions etc. They do Skype video call sessions, otherwise I wouldn't mention them.

With regard the residency checker etc, just attach a note explaining which parts of the application are not applicable and/or write "N/A" on the form.

Edit: I kinda got the OP and a later post a bit confused/muddled into one, but can't be bothered re-writing everything to make sense lol.

[Mark AJ]

Mammoth

Firstly thank you for taking the time to respond and I take all your points on board.

Only yesterday after phoning around numerous legal firms I spoke to a firm that I will abbreviate IAS in belfast. Upon speaking to them it would seem that although their number is in belfast you actually speak to an informed secretary who has offered this same advisory service as you speak about for £150 to include a full Skype consultation and follow up support for 30 days. I will consider using this firm maybe.

Did you get your issue sorted yet or are you still in the process? I haven't ruled out the British route fully yet but if I go uk route I am more fearful of a refusal on some silly oversight thus forfeiting the fee.

M

[Michael2018]

Hi guys,

My US wife is intending to apply for Irish citizenship this October. Living in NI with me from Sep 14, we were married in Belfast on October 16th 2014. I was born in NI, and am a dual UK/Irish citizenship. We have lived in Belfast since this date, so she should be eligible to apply using marriage & 3 years reckonable residence. Is this true?

Can anyone give advice on what documents we need to supply, and if we should obtain a PSNI certificate to support the application? Much of the documents stipulated in the form assume residence in the ROI; what differences, if any, should I be aware of when applying from NI?

I have tried to obtain legal help with our application in Belfast, but firms seem to be unwilling to advise on ROI immigration procedures.

Thanks in advance

Yes 3 years resident on Island of Ireland with no breaks over 6 weeks (this is counted as not being resident).

Documents I submitted and approved:

My birth certificate (certified copy)
My Passport bio page (certified copy)
Spouse passport bio page (certified copy)
Spouse Birth certificate (certified copy)
Son's Irish passport (certified copy)
Son's birth certificate (certified copy)
Marriage certificate (certified copy)
UK Biometric card copy (certified copy)
Various Tourist Irish visas over the last 3 years (certified copies)
Copy of last 3 pay slips
Last P60
3 different bills for me and my spouse for last 3 months at our current address
Bills for the last 3 years for myself showing date and address
PSNI Criminal Record Check
Letter from employer
Last 3 months bank statements
2 passport photos
Application form

Get a solicitor to do the certified copies.

Check out my other postings for other details.

Good Luck.

Hello crisbella218, did your partner submit any documentation in relation to his employment and salary?

Thanks