Irish spouse visa vs British spouse visa

[seagul]

Hi all,

If someone is British citizen and is willing to bring his non-EU partner then which country has more easier and cheaper visa process, UK or Ireland. As we all know that UK spouse visa is very costly and involve the fulfillment of mandatory requirement of earning at least £18600. But how about Ireland if a British national move then can he sponsor his non-EU partner there and if so then whether that will be covered under Irish own immigration law or European law.

[Daisies]

EU law. He needs to apply for an EEA Family permit if he as a UK citizen wants to bring a non EEA spouse to live and work in Ireland.

[PasadenaTom]

You probably want to discuss this with a solicitor. If you move to Ireland before Brexit is completed, you probably can invoke residence rights for a non-EEA spouse of an EU citizen. But after that? It seems that UK citizens residing in an EU country before Brexit will have "settled" status. But I'm not sure what that means for a non-EEA spouse.

After Brexit, a UK citizen will still retain the right to live in Ireland under the Common Travel Area agreement between the UK and Ireland. That agreement predates the EU agreements. But what that means for a non-EU/non-UK citizen spouse, is not clear (to me anyway).

[max307]

Hi all,

If someone is British citizen and is willing to bring his non-EU partner then which country has more easier and cheaper visa process, UK or Ireland. As we all know that UK spouse visa is very costly and involve the fulfillment of mandatory requirement of earning at least £18600. But how about Ireland if a British national move then can he sponsor his non-EU partner there and if so then whether that will be covered under Irish own immigration law or European law.

Definitely easier and cheaper from Ireland.

The only issue I can see coming to Ireland is that you (UK citizen) won't be a EU citizen from March, 2019 so I don't know how that will affect your application, my guess (my own opinion) is that once your application is in the system you will be treated as an EU citizen even if the UK already left the EU but for sure there will be a cut off date to new applications.

EU Treaty Rights applications in Ireland are taking longer these days so very unlikely your application will be decided before March, 2019 even if you apply today. I would get some legal advise on the matter but with Brexit so unclear to everyone including leave leaders in the UK I honestly don't think anyone can give you a certain answer.

[seagul]

But if we keep aside the EU regulations then what other bilateral arrangements between uk and Ireland especially any rights extracted from common travel tradition.

[max307]

But if we keep aside the EU regulations then what other bilateral arrangements between uk and Ireland especially any rights extracted from common travel tradition.

Definitely UK citizens have more extensive rights than other EU citizens in Ireland, the issue here is that INIS for immigration purposes considers EU law when dealing with application for UK citizen spouse visa in Ireland.

It might be something you can explore further, apparently the right of UK citizens to live in Ireland derives from Irish law.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/mo ... izens.html

[seagul]

How about if some one is non-EU national who got the UK spouse visa because of being partner of UK citizen and if both go and live in ireland then return back UK after 6 months then can the surinder singh route come into play and if so then can both visas be able to retain, first as uk spouse visa and second the 5 years residence card of EU national

[max307]

How about if some one is non-EU national who got the UK spouse visa because of being partner of UK citizen and if both go and live in ireland then return back UK after 6 months then can the surinder singh route come into play and if so then can both visas be able to retain, first as uk spouse visa and second the 5 years residence card of EU national

The UK will leave the EU in about 4 months, even if your EU Treaty Rights application is the fastest to be processed it won't be approved before March 2019 assuming you apply today.

What are the rights of UK citizens and their non-EU partners in the EU (including Ireland) after Brexit? No one knows.

It's not clear if UK citizens will be able to move freely within the EU after March 2019, let alone non-EU partners of UK citizens. There is too much uncertainty around Brexit so I wouldn't risk it (my own opinion) coming to Ireland to try to go back to the UK because in 4 months that choice might not be there and the non-EU national might end up in a limbo and having to apply for a new UK spouse visa to go back to the UK with the UK citizen.