EEA Family Permit Application in Dublin

[zerofold]

Hi all,

I (American) will be applying for a Family Permit based on my EEA spouse (Irish) in a few months and had a question for anyone who has knowledge regarding a Family Permit and the Common Travel Area. I have searched and read through everything I could find on this forum which was very helpful.

We wish to relocate to the UK (all Brexit issues aside). My husband's US visa expires and he will be returning to Ireland in early December. Due to my work and other commitments, I will not be able to join him until a few weeks later. This happens to fall right around Christmas, and we plan on spending the holidays with his family in Dublin. Thus, I am hoping to enter Ireland as a visitor for a few weeks, apply for a UK Family Permit from Dublin, and then relocate to the UK.

I have concerns regarding how the immigration officer at the Dublin airport will handle this situation seeing as there is no passport control when entering the UK from Ireland. I plan on being completely upfront about the fact that I am married to an Irish national who is living in Ireland, but we do not intend to settle there. Has anyone experienced this before?

Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

[Richard W]

My reply assumes that your husband is not also a British citizen.

Thus, I am hoping to enter Ireland as a visitor for a few weeks, apply for a UK Family Permit from Dublin, and then relocate to the UK.

Why apply? If you read the EEA Regulations, in particular Regulation 11(4)(b) and Regulation 13(2), you can just travel from Ireland to the UK on the basis of a valid US passport.

I have concerns regarding how the immigration officer at the Dublin airport will handle this situation seeing as there is no passport control when entering the UK from Ireland. I plan on being completely upfront about the fact that I am married to an Irish national who is living in Ireland, but we do not intend to settle there.

I presume you are worried that the Irish immigration officer will suspect that you intend to settle in Ireland. If he treats you as making a single trip from the US to the UK via Ireland, and my memory serves me right, he should stamp you into the UK with an EEA Regulations stamp; I don't know if that has ever happened. If your total travel counts as two journeys, then on entering the UK with your husband you will both be free of all immigration restrictions while you remain in the UK by virtue of the Immigration (Control of Entry Through Republic of Ireland) Order 1972 Article 4 as amended by the Immigration (Control of Entry through Republic of Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2014 Article 3(6).