I'll try and summarize to make this quick.
- My Wife (Thai Passport) Married to me (Uk & Irish Passports), Daughter (UK Passport)
- Wife also has German Residence Card - 5 year renewals. "Residence Card of a Family Member of a Union Citizen" printed on the card.
- We all reside in Germany. I am exercising my Treaty rights. My extended Family live in Northern Ireland (UK).
Now. As a family we have flown back and forth to Belfast via Heathrow or Birmingham from Germany many times. Always with an EEA Family Permit in my Wife's Passport
We have also flown once to Dublin and traveled by car to "The North". Again with an EEA Family Permit. (no issue here traveling Ireland to UK, open Borders agreement)
On this occasion we do not have time to apply for an EEA Family permit and frankly we're fed up with repeating the application process every 6 months to renew this. We have to pay around €120 every time to Wordbridge for the VIP and Courier Delivery services. Plus Dusseldorf is a 2 hour drive from where we live. So that's a day off work to submit the application.
I've read the information online. And I'm happy that if my Wife and I travel together AND if an airline allow us to board, without EEA Family Permit, we would be Landed in Ireland. Maybe with a short delay while Immigration check our documents.
However, my Wife will be traveling to Ireland with my Mother and my 2 year old Daughter (UK Passports both). Aer Lingus from Dusseldorf to Dublin. Serviceair or similar staff at check-in. Even with the EEA FP in her Passport last time we had to wait at Check-On for 20 minutes whilst the Staff checked with Irish Authorities. In the end the "Family Member of an...." part of the visa was enough to convince the Irish Official on the other end of the phone and we were Landed in Ireland with only a cursory glance at the Passport and EEA FP.
This time I will not be traveling with them. Although I will go as far as check-in at Dusseldorf.
How do we stand with this?
Sorry, that was supposed to be brief. But it has gone on a bit