So my name is john and I am a 24 year old man from Donegal who is currently working as a lorry mechanic in the wonderful county of Kildare.
I was not always living in Ireland as I moved away 5 years ago for a more promising life in Australia, the more time I spent in Australia the more unhappy I became and I couldn't really understand why. So I packed my bags and started travelling Asia from the Philippines to Cambodia. When I arrived in Cambodia I just knew that was where I wanted to stay so 6 months down the line I met my amazing girlfriend.
However from the first two months in Cambodia I realized my health was not doing so well, so I made a decision to change my lifestyle which included giving up cigarettes, going to the gym, eating healthy and cutting way down on alcohol.
This seemed to do the trick for me on the first month or so but throughout the following year I was just getting worse and with 3 trips to bangkok for medical reasons and having no real answers from doctors only huge medical bills, myself and my girlfriend decided that a trip home was badly needed.
That was a decision that genuinely broke my heart in two pieces, I have never felt pain like it before. Having to say goodbye to someone that helped me through thick and thin, someone who I wanted and still want to marry not knowing when and how I will be with her again.
So now two months on from that horrible time I am on the mend here in Ireland with the help of my family, friends, my GP and of corse my girlfriend. I was able to commence work 1 month ago which has helped me in so many ways it really is unbelievable.
I have been advised that I should not be living in Asia (holidays are OK). So this has brought to me a question for my girlfriend, " would you like to move to Ireland" (She said yes)
So I have been visiting the inis website and talking with people about visa options and I have just been thrown around in circles and with no definite plan on what to do.
I was thinking about the de facto type but that says we need to be in a relationship for two years and we are only together for 1 year.
Other people were saying about some kind of sponsorship visa for work but I am just really confused.
She is a 26 year old mathamatics teacher in Cambodia, She is committed to working here on a full time basis or partime work on a study visa.
Please if someone would point me in the right direction as to what would be best I would be eternally grateful and appreciative.
John