EEA for the wife of a British/Irish citizen

[seanfwilson]

My wife and I are about to graduate from University and we're in an extremely sticky situation!

She is a US citizen and has the right to stay in the UK and work until the 29th September (plus her 28 days after that).

She's gotten a job with a 3 year contract where she will be earning around £41k a year, but it seems that our hopes of a spouse visa seem to have all but fallen flat because we weren't earning above the £18,600 for the 12 months prior;
mainly due to the fact that my course didn't give me any kind of predictable free time in which to have a part time job and my wife's visa restricted her to only 20 hours per week (nowhere near enough to earn this kind of wage).

So we've come to the stage where our only viable option (as far as we are aware) is to apply for an EEA FP via the following route:

- I apply for Irish Citizenship via the Foreign Births Register
- I renounce my British Citizenship (Yes, I am aware of the results of this and I am perfectly okay with it.)
- I ensure that I'm in some form of employment around the date of the application (exercising my treaty rights)
- My wife travels to Dublin and stays with my family for a max. of 10 days (the current EEA FP turnaround time according to Dublin office website) to apply for the EEA FP
- Wife travels back to the UK with her shiny new paperwork

The main issue here is the time frame that we have to get this all completed (~15weeks!)

Is this even doable? All we can currently do is hope for the best!

Any help from people who've been through any of these processes before, and have an idea of time frame, or any way we can expedite this process will obviously be of massive help.

If there's any route other than this or the Surinder Singh route that would apply, I would be interested to hear about it.

The job my wife is starting is an absolutely amazing opportunity for a fresh graduate of her age, and it would be devastating to be forced to hand in her notice so short into gaining employment.

[el patron]

Renunciation can be slow, 3 months the norm but no guarantee it won't be longer, doubt you'll have time for the EEA FP. How about - get the Irish passport, apply for an EEA residence card on strength of Irish passport, which should get her a Certificate of Application which should then be evidence for employers of her 'right to work'. Once COA received, request your Irish passport back and apply to renounce British citizenship and wait for processing of the renunciation. If her EEA residence card is refused, appeal, doing so secures her ongoing rights pending appeal outcome (Home Office would try to make you think otherwise though, they are wrong), renunciation should be complete in time for an appeal hearing or make fresh application when renunciation arrives.

[el patron]

The other thing to remember is that if either of your parents were born in Ireland you do not need to bother with the foreign births register, just apply for the passport with proof of parent's place of birth.