help with marriage question

[azulceleste]

I am sure this question has appeared before, but I can't find an exact answer all situations are different since most of them are not from Latin American citizens.

That said: I am a salvadorian and my fiance is Italian. He is already in Ireland working. We are planning to get married and live in Ireland. At the moment I am finishing my masters degree in Belgium. How long does it takes once we get married, to get a working permit for me? Do I get the right to work immediately or 5 years till become an Italian?.... the next question where should we get married? my country, Ireland, outside of Ireland... for example Belgium or Italy? In order to not be appart too much I understand that if we get married in my country I cannot come back to Ireland with him... perhaps I am wrong.

Thank you so much for the help!!
ps I do not need a Visa to enter Ireland (in case the info helps)

[mik]

Spouses of EU citizens have a right to work in Ireland without a work permit . My wife - nonEU - was working within a month of entering Ireland . However , you may now need to apply to the Dept. of Justice for for a residency card , which can take up to 6 months to receive , and they will keep your passport in the meantime . Once you have your visa - category D spouse visa - try the Immigration Bureau , and if your spouse is employed (or you have sufficient means to live independently), they may still be able to issue you with a stamp 4 residency card on the spot , which means you would then be eligible to seek employment . This was possible in March , but you may now need to send form EU1 , available on justice.ie , to the Justice department , and wait .
Garda National Immigration Bureau 01 6669100 .

[scrudu]

Hi Azulceleste,

I think if you check through some of the other posts I put on this site, or those from Archigabe, you will find some extra information. We are both in very similar situations. Check out topic: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=7342

But to answer some of your questions:
1. Irish Immigration defines all applicants are either EEA or non-EEA applicants, so if you see a post that refers to someone from Africa/Asia or wherever, it will also apply to you. There is a differentiation when applying for Tourist Visas as there are visa-required, and non-visa Nationalities, but these do not apply to Immigration.

2. If you get married outside Ireland, you can apply for a D-Spouse visa from the Irish Embassy in your country of residence (Belgium I presume). I was advised that this would take 8-12 weeks to process, but someone else recently posted that it took them 6 months to wait for this visa. If you enter Ireland on this visa type, you are entitled to work immediately on entering Ireland. You should register with the GNIB (Garda National Immigraiton Bureau) on arrival to register your arrival in the State.

3. If you get married in Ireland you can then apply for Permanent Residency on the basis of Marriage to an Irish National. We have been advised that this will take 12-16 months for the application to be processed. During that time you will not be allowed work or leave the country. When the Perm Residency visa is granted, you can work immediately.

Info on Marriage by Registrar in Ireland:
a) must give 3 months notice to Registrar
b) must live prior 7 days to meeting Registrar in Registrars locality
c) must meet Registrar to complete paperwork
d) must wait 22 days before date for wedding
e) marriage by Registrar
Note also that the Registrar in Dublin is VERY busy and you could be waiting 6 months for a date to meet the Registrar and longer for a Marriage date. In total this can take 3-8 months to organise and get a date with the Registrar, which may take you to beyond the duration terms of your visitors visa.

to MIK
-----------
Can you tell me on what visa your wife entered the country? Did she have a D-Spouse visa before entering? I'd really appreciate it if you could clarify the order of how your wife got her working rights, as we have been told that my fiancée (we will marry next month) will have to wait 18 months to be able to access his working rights. OR that he should leave the country, return home, and apply for a D-Spouse Visa to return.

And yes you are right that spouses of EU citizens should not require a work permit to work here, they do require a visa/Residency rights. These are only granted by the Dept of Justice.

[mik]

We got married in Thailand . I took a visa form to my wife over there , which she signed . I then flew back to Thailand alone and went to the Immigration Dept. with the visa application form , and various other documents . All they wanted were completed application , our passports , marriage certificate , and proof of residence - tenancy agreement . I was contacted within a week and told my wife's visa was ready (category D ). I was able to obtain the visa for her in Ireland as at the time Ireland did not have an embassy in Thailand . I went back to Thailand about a week later and we flew to Ireland a further week later . After about 2 days in Ireland we went to the Immigration Bureau and my wife was given an annually renewable residence card . Was a surprisingly painless experience . I believe it is now more stressful . This scenario occured in 2000 . I know it was possible to obtain a residence card on the same day at the Immigration Bureau in March . Your fiancee will have to leave the country to change visa status but may not have to return home . I know of a couple - Irish/Thai - who entered Ireland unmarried , married , then visited a friend in UK , and the non-EU wife was able to re-enter Ireland with a category D visa . I am UK .

[scrudu]

Hi Mik,

Thanks so much for the info! From your experience it does sound like things may have changed, or else perhaps the Immigration people on the Helpdesk Phonelines are just trying to paint the worst possible scenario to us whenever we phone them.

As for your friends who like us married in Ireland. Wow ... I never considered that he could just enter another EU country and just apply from there, as I thought it would take weeks/months to process the D-Spouse application. That could be an excellent solution for us if we could do it!

Did that happen recently or a while ago? Do you know how long it took the visa app to be processed?

[mik]

Irish/Thai couple went to UK after marrying in Ireland , about 4/5 years ago .
Have you tried ringing GNIB : 01 6669100 - direct line .

[scrudu]

Hi Mik,

Yes I spoke to the GNIB to see if we could just directly register with them after our marriage, but they said pretty much the same as the Justice Dept, namely that we must apply via the Dept of Justice for a Permanent Residence permit for him to stay.

They advised that they Immigration Dept are generally extremely slow so they advised that my fiancee leave the country after our marriage, return home and apply for a D-Spouse visa from there to speed up the process.

I might ring the Irish Embassy in the UK to see how long they reckon it will take for a "D-Spouse visa" to be granted if we were to head over there and apply. But if it will take months, it would end up being even more costly than getting a flight home and staying there for the few months