Brit moving to Ireland from USA with spouse

[pryan]

Hopefully someone will be able to clear some things up for me. Here's our situation:

My wife (US national) and I (joint US and British national) are moving to Ireland next year. My family has a historic property with agricultural land in Ireland. We are hoping to start growing organic fruit and vegetables and raise beef cattle. The catch is that none of my parents or grandparents are Irish. We are not planning to seek employment and I have been reading that this could make it difficult to stay in Ireland for longer than 3 months. However, we are planning on taking vocational courses because neither of us have any experience in farming. We are also hoping to develop the historic aspect of the property which has a rich local history. We do not have much capital and know we are taking a big risk but we have commited to moving and are wanting to make this work.

I have a few questions :

1. Does land ownership make it easier to gain irish residency?
2. Do I have to appear to be seeking work even though I do not necessarily want a full-time job?
3. Can my wife work legally in Ireland?
4. Do we have to be enrolled in long-term courses to be considered students in the eyes of the government?

Thanks

[Ben]

Hi pryan.

In accordance with EU Directive 2004/38/EC, you and your spouse have the right to enter and reside in Ireland for up to three months, without any conditions or formalities other than the requirement to each hold a valid passport.

Beyond these three months, you will both have a continued right to reside in Ireland (and thus so will your wife), if either of the following applies to you:

• You are employed in Ireland, even part-time.
• You are self-employed in Ireland.
• You are enrolled in a course of study in Ireland.
• You are economically self-sufficient in Ireland.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

You both can stay and work without restriction for up to 90 days.

If you are a farmer, you would most likely be considered self employed. The European rules cover that, as was pointed out previously. You do not necessarily need to be making loads of money initially.

If you are self employed (or employed or studying or self sufficient), your wife can apply for a Residence Card using form EU1. She can also work, either on the farm or in a "normal" job. The way the Irish process these things is a bit stupid, but you can immediately request your passport back for travel after you have submitted the application (which will likely take 6 months to process).

Do you have quite a bit of money to support yourself while getting set up? If so then you are likely "self sufficient", which is itself another grounds to give you both the right to stay and live in Ireland.

[pryan]

Thank you both for your replies.

My main concern is that having moving my wife, myself and my cats to Ireland we will not be allowed to stay longer than 3 months.

We do have some money saved but not a huge amount but it will be enough to support ourselves for about a year as well as having a little cash to start our business slowly. The phrase "economically self-sufficient" seems very vague. In your experience what does this mean?

[UKStephen]

I'm assuming you're coming over from the USA. Have you checked into the paperwork hassle of moving your cats over here? Just to warn you, you must start 7 months in advance. I did it 2 years ago for two small dogs from Canada and the vet bills were about $1500 and the airline also charged about $1500. You may have to fly through Heathrow (I did)....not sure of registered points of entry for Ireland.

[pryan]

We are moving from the USA. We have started the whole process as far as rabies shots testing etc are concerned. It definitely isn't cheap! But that's the price you pay for love.

[Ben]

The phrase "economically self-sufficient" seems very vague. In your experience what does this mean?

It means to be able to support yourself and your resident family members without becoming a burden on the social welfare system.

If you are economically self-sufficient, it is also a requirement that you hold comprehensive sickness insurance cover for yourself and your resident family members.