Filipino spouse relocating from Australia to Ireland via UK

[ozpom]

Hello all,

I'm looking for some guidance on the following situation:

my Filipino wife and myself were planning to move from Australia to London in September under the UK Spouse visa scheme. However, I recently received a contract offer based in Dublin with a start date in July and therefore need to fly back ahead of her to commence the job. I would like to know what the requirements are for my wife to stay with me in Ireland for the duration of the contract, which could be up to 12 months. I do not want her to have to stay in the UK without me and it will also double our expenses i.e renting accommodation in both the UK and Ireland. We will return to live in London after the contract finishes.

I have read various threads on here but i'm still confused as to the best way to get her a visa for being able to stay with me in Ireland.

Thanks!

[jeupsy]

I gather you are a UK citizen?

If yes your spouse can obtain a visa to accompany you to ireland easily (you will just need to show a proof that you are a married and traveling to Ireland together - or that you are already there and she is joining you).

For a stay longer than 3 months she will need a residence card. This will also be fairly easy to obtain as long as you are in employement and she is living with you. His is called an EU Treaty Rights application and the application form is called EU1. But in any case she will need the visa to come to Ireland first as the residence card application is only possible once she is in Ireland.

[ozpom]

Thanks for the reply, it is very helpful

Yes i'm a UK citizen. I will Google for the EU1 form and have a look at it.

Would you happen to know if she is entitled to medical treatment in Ireland, especially maternity assistance? If not we will have to use private health insurance when required.

[CalvinKlien]

EU 1 form can be found here: http://inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/EU%20Treaty%20Rights

[jeupsy]

Would you happen to know if she is entitled to medical treatment in Ireland, especially maternity assistance? If not we will have to use private health insurance when required.

Once she has the formal residence card (which can take 6 months after the application date), the Irish government would have to provide the same public services to her than to an EU citizen (i.e. public hospitals would have to provide the same free services they would provide to any EU citizen living in Ireland, public universities would have to give her reduced EU fees, etc). Not sure how maternity assistance works in Ireland and you'd better check with someone more familiar with the matter, but as far as I know: she will have free access to maternity care but if she doesn't have private health insurance she will not be guaranteed to see the same doctor for each appointment and after she gives birth she could be in a public ward shared with a number of other patients rather than having her own room (less comfortable but nothing horrible I imagine, an Irish citizen with not private insurance would be treated i the same way).

Before she gets the card I am not 100% sure - she will probably be entitled for it as well be better double check with someone who knows how non EU residents in Ireland are treated with regard to medical care (really not my area of expertise).

[CalvinKlien]

@ ozpom

The maternity treatment is not free for everyone in Ireland. If you can prove that you lived in Ireland for at least 2 years and you have to provide P60 / P21 which shows that you were employed here than the hospital will not send you invoice otherwise there was a bill sent to us for 2700 Euros.

Once I provided the hospital my last two P60's the invoice got cancelled.