Marrying a French national in Ireland.

Post by **archigabe** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:22 am

Hello All!
I am a Non-E.U (Visa required) national engaged to a French national working in Ireland. We got engaged in my home country (India) 6 months ago. Can you please tell me what would be the fastest option for me to move to Ireland to be with my fiancee? Should I go to Ireland on a visit visa and get married, or Get married in India and apply for a spouse visa at the Irish embassy? Will there be any problems with my applying for a spouse visa at the Irish embassy since my fiancee is actually a French national working in Ireland?
Hope someone with similar background or useful information can help!
Regards,
Gabriel

Post by **John** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:31 am

Gabriel, I would say your easiest option is for the two of you to get married in India, and following that, you should apply (free of charge) at the Irish Embassy in India for an EEA Family Permit.

That is, your wife (as she will be) is exercising her treaty rights to live and work in another EEA country, namely Ireland. Once the two of you are married you will have the right to live with her and indeed will possess the same rights as her to work in Ireland. But you will need an Irish-issued EEA Family Permit in your Indian passport to prove it.

Post by **archigabe** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:20 pm

John wrote:Gabriel, I would say your easiest option is for the two of you to get married in India, and following that, you should apply (free of charge) at the Irish Embassy in India for an EEA Family Permit.

That is, your wife (as she will be) is exercising her treaty rights to live and work in another EEA country, namely Ireland. Once the two of you are married you will have the right to live with her and indeed will possess the same rights as her to work in Ireland. But you will need an Irish-issued EEA Family Permit in your Indian passport to prove it.

Thanks for the info, John! For personal reasons, we would prefer to be married in Ireland. In that case, would I have to come back to India and apply for the spouse visa or is there any way that I can get the EEA family permit stamped by immigration bureau in Ireland without my leaving Ireland? Would appreciate your thoughts on this!
Regards,
Gabriel

Post by **John** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:39 pm

is there any way that I can get the EEA family permit stamped by immigration bureau in Ireland without my leaving Ireland?

There may be other members of this Board who are able to answer that very reasonable question. Unfortunately I am unable to do so.

I think your fiancée, living in Ireland, should check out whether the two of you are legally able to get married in Ireland, and if so, whether you can apply for your EEA Family Permit there.

But also there is another issue. In order to get married in Ireland you would need to get a visa to enter Ireland. I don't claim to know much at all about Irish immigration law, but hopefully other members of this Board can post some advice to you. But it seems to me you would need some sort of fiancé visa.

The point is that the legislation about EEA Family Permits applies to the whole of the EEA, so it is easy for me to comment upon that aspect.

From the visa/permit point of view I suspect it would be a lot easier for the two of you to marry in India.

tuning-fork · Post by **tuning-fork** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:57 pm

Hi, I would rather suggest that you get married in India before applying for EEA family permit at the Irish embassy. Moving to Ireland to get married is another option but you will need a visa to get there and a lot of marriage paperwork for the wedding to take place in conformity with the Irish law on foreigners getting married in their territory. Your French fiancé can obtain information at the local registry and I think you’ll also need a criminal record from Indian authorities with other docs translated into English before booking for the wedding, which might take a long or shorter period. Make sure your tourist visa prolonged in case the wedding date is delayed. After the wedding, you may apply for a long-term visa within Ireland if your wife is permanently resident there. Otherwise, you’ll have to get an EEA family permit from a visa free nearby country or back from your country of origin. Not quite sure on how it works in Ireland but I think your fiancé is able to sort that out with local authorities. This is merely my point of view!

scrudu · Post by **scrudu** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:07 pm

Hi there,
Possibly too late for you now, but I am going through the same dilema now. I am an Irish National and my fiancé is an Indonesian National. He arrived into Ireland on a tourist visa and we tried to get a marriage date organised here. Items required to get married in Ireland include
1. Three Months Notice to the Registry office
2. Birth Certificates (certified translations if not in English)
3. Passport
4. Residency in the Registrar's area for min 7 days before "serving notice" to the Registrar.

Anyways, with this 3 months notice, it wasnt possible to marry during the 90 days tourist visa period. We were unable to get this visa extended in Ireland, as a "Type C Tourist Visa" apparently cannot be extended!

My fiancé is now returning home. We hope to apply for him to return on a tourist visa and marry. But we have been advised by immigration here that after the wedding, if he then applies for a "Permanent Residency Visa based on marrige to Irish National" it will take 14-16 months to process. But if after our marriage he returns to his home country and applies for a "D-Spouse visa" this will be done free of charge and will take approx 6-8 weeks.

Another simpler option that we are considering is to marry in Indonesia. This way, we can immediately apply for a "D-Spouse Visa" and he can then re-enter the state as a permanent Resident.

All in all, it is not a simple process to get married in Ireland, and it will prove a lot timlier and cheaper if you can marry in India!

olajesu · Post by **olajesu** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:44 am

i wonder why everybody talks about eea family permit in ireland this is only done in the uk ,there is no such thing as that in ireland they treat eu spouses just the same as other applicants ,just that it is free.under the uk eea family permit you get the permit upon application and easily ,i;e these applications are highly prioritized but ireland does not operate that way my spouse uk citizen has applied for me to accompany her since december 2005 to ireland and till now no decision when we contacted the irish solvit which i think works in the irish immigration favour ,they they may take 6 months but the eu gheadquarters say it should be without delay max 1 month,we have just left them alone ,the eu free movement is just a lot of crap.plan properly before making any decision

Post by **John** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:02 am

EU law does actually give EU states up to six months to decide these types of applications. In the UK it is currently taking 2 to 3 months on average. So I would not agree that these applications are given priority ..... just the opposite .... must be made by post .... compared to UK law spouse visa applications ... noticeably faster.

In general members states don't put in the resources to ensure these free applications are dealt with speedily. But they do need to take account of the need to respond within six months.

Irish compliance with EU law? At least back in 2002 they refused absolutely to comply with something. Under EU law visitor visa applications by family members of an EU Citizen need to be free. Schengen area countries comply with that. Ireland? As regards spouse, yes! But as regards other family members, no! They insisted that an application fee needed to be paid in respect of my step-daughter. Our reaction was simple ... we declined to pay for the application ... refused to spend our holiday money in Ireland ..... and even now my wife and step-daughter have never been to the Irish Republic ... even though they now have British passports.

Hopefully you will hear the result of your application soon.

olajesu · Post by **olajesu** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:46 pm

the eu only gives nations 6 months to decide resident permits and not visas for eu spouses ,as regards eea family permit ,it is giving on same day basis

Post by **John** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:53 pm

Ah well, we better tell that to the British Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, which initially rejected an application for an EEA Family Permit, and then on the second application, allocated an interview date three months hence. (Luckily that second allocation was successful.)

I agree that many EEA Family Permits are granted very speedily but nevertheless don't think that the six month rules disapplies to such applications.

Post by **JAJ** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:11 am

John wrote: Irish compliance with EU law? At least back in 2002 they refused absolutely to comply with something. Under EU law visitor visa applications by family members of an EU Citizen need to be free. Schengen area countries comply with that. Ireland? As regards spouse, yes! But as regards other family members, no! They insisted that an application fee needed to be paid in respect of my step-daughter. Our reaction was simple ... we declined to pay for the application ... refused to spend our holiday money in Ireland ..... and even now my wife and step-daughter have never been to the Irish Republic ... even though they now have British passports.

I hope that unfortunate incident won't deter your wife and step-daughter from visiting Northern Ireland ....

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Marrying a French national in Ireland.

Marrying a French national in Ireland.

no eea permit

i disagree