Any help...please

[beautyds]

[i]Hello Everyone,

I would appreciate any sort of input please. Situation: I am a US citizen in a relationship with and Irish citizen. We have been together almost four years and he has since returned to Ireland because his American visa expired.

We are trying to get me over there on a permanent move. However, we are not married, and although I have a BS degree...I do not really fit the skilled sector of jobs for a work permit.

Does anyone know the rules regarding de facto relationships? Do we have to have lived together the entire time?(He has been back and forth with his job) Is there any options at all....throw them at me please. Anything.....

Thank you so much in advance for your time and help. [/i]

[yankeegirl]

I don't know much about de-facto relationships, but if you were allowed to stay based on that, you would still need a work permit in order to take up employment in Ireland. I would think that you'd have to provide proof of co-habitation for the time period they require (which according to the INIS site is 4 years).

If you guys are at the point where marriage might be an option, the easiest way would be to marry in the US and then return to Ireland.

[beautyds]

thanks for the information. unfort...we have not lived together on a permanent basis the entire four years. I was hoping it would be just proof of the relationship that lasted four years or more. The immigration websites are a bit vague.

well your idea about marriage is looking to be our only option I guess...thanks for the advice.

[yankeegirl]

The immigration websites are a bit vague.

Yeah and that's part of the problem lol. You might want to try contacting the Immigrant Council of Ireland. They might have some more concrete information.

[cowper]

hi
We had to proove a de facto relationship as well although we lived in different cities and even different countries during the previous years. Basically we could proove only one year of living together but four years of relationship. We submitted as well letters from families and friends stating since how long we are together, pictures, flight tickets to show that we were trying to see each others as often as possible... And it was fine.
Good luck

[scrudu]

cowper: What was your situation? Were you a non-EU citizen in a de-facto relationship with an Irish citizen? If so, what visa/stamp were you issued?

I ask this as there is currently legislation (the EU directive) to handle de-facto relationships for EU citizens (or Irish citizens who have worked elsewhere in the EU, and are exercising their Treaty Rights), but as far as I know, there is no such legislation for Irish citizens.

[cowper]

hi
none of us is Irish...