Non_EEA Married to Italian resident in Ireland

[Babstar]

Hi there,
I have looked through pages and pages of topics but cannot find any post in relation to my situation.
I'm Italian, regularly resident in Ireland (registered with the AIRE). My husband (NON_EEA) and I got married in Italy about a month ago, upon return to Ireland, we were told that it would suffice for us to go to the Gardai National Immigration Office with our marriage certificate and he would be issued with some sort of spouse stamp. (he has been on an irish work permit for about 5 years now).
However when we did so, we were told that we need to fill in some sort of application form from the department of justice and that it would take about a month before they would get back to us with a letter that we then need to take back to the immigration office.
We cannot find the form they told us to download from the dept justice site and have been receiving conflicting information. Can anyone help us understand what we need to do? Thanks in advance, Barbara

[JAJ]

Hi there,
I have looked through pages and pages of topics but cannot find any post in relation to my situation.
I'm Italian, regularly resident in Ireland (registered with the AIRE). My husband (NON_EEA) and I got married in Italy about a month ago, upon return to Ireland, we were told that it would suffice for us to go to the Gardai National Immigration Office with our marriage certificate and he would be issued with some sort of spouse stamp. (he has been on an irish work permit for about 5 years now).

I can't help with your specific question other than to observe that the Irish immigration system seems to be a mess.

But if your husband has been working in Ireland for 5 years, has he looked into applying for naturalisation as an Irish citizen? He might lose his existing citizenship, depending on the country, but this might not be a problem.

[mik]

Someone residing in Ireland for 5 years via work permits can apply for permission to remain , and be awarded long-term residency status (a 5 year stamp i believe ) .
http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21A5/ ... ission.pdf

Or , you can obtain a residency card via form EU1 . Link to form :


http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21...cJUSQ6PEK7V-en

[JAJ]

Someone residing in Ireland for 5 years via work permits can apply for permission to remain , and be awarded long-term residency status (a 5 year stamp i believe ) .
http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21A5/ ... ission.pdf

Unusually, there is no requirement in Ireland to be a "permanent resident" in order to be able to apply for naturalisation.

[Babstar]

Hi, thanks for the information. We have now been told he should apply through a EU 1 form. To apply for citizenship you need to have work permit stamps for a total of 60 months uninterrupted and we have a few months missing.
The problem really is that his current permit expires in a couple of weeks and I don't think the permit on the basis of him being married to me would be approved in such a short time.
It's a very unfortunate situation as we were told that it would suffice for us to go in person to the immigration office with our marriage cert, and this is actualy not the case!
it's very unfortunate that a couple who is not even married 3 weeks has to be put through such strain I guess I'm not the only one in this situation. Anyway for the sake of time, my husband has decided to apply for the usual renewal of his current work permit and once he reaches the 60 months he will apply for citizenship.

[scrudu]

I empathise completely. And can agree with JAJ that the Irish Immigration system is a mess.

The only other info I can offer is that while you are awaiting a decision of the EU_1 form, your husband will be allowed stay, but not work. So at least he won't be "overstaying".

[Babstar]

thanks Scrudu...I think he will apply for a normal renewal of his current work permit. Its unfortunate as it binds him to the one job...but best to be here with me than back home

[scrudu]

Yes, very frustrating! But do submit your EU_1 application at the same time. We were advised by the Immigrant Council of Ireland http://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/ that if after 6 months your application had not been processed that you could complain to the EU Commission about the delay.

They have a drop-in center on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri from 10.00 - 12.30 & a telephone helpline on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri from 2.00 - 4.30 if you need more info. They are a lot more helpful than the Dept of Justice with their information.

[Babstar]

Thanks Scrudu, if you don't mind me asking, how long did it actually take?
And while we wait for the spouse permit, is my husband allowed to stay in the state without work?

[scrudu]

Hi Babstar,
We havent actually gone through the process yet so in reality I dont know how long it takes. My fiance and I marry in 3 weeks time. All info I sent on to you was just info that I have found out from the Dept of Justice or other sources. I have been trying to get this process clarified so that when we marry, we can get working on it as quickly as possible.

I know that if you apply for a Residence Permit from within the country, your husband will be allowed reside until the application is processed. He will not be allowed work, nor leave the State. Dept of Justice advise that this can take 12-16 mths.

If he leaves the country, to apply for a D-Spouse Visa to re-enter the country, this should take 6-12 wks (or 6 mths as per one Author experience) and then he can re-enter on the D-Spouse visa and work immediately

[sher16]

Hi Babstar,

I am a non-eu national married to a German citizen resident in Ireland and i applied for leave to remain last year october,it's past eight months now and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. We have submitted all the documents requested.In our confirmation letter from the Justice ministry , it clearly stated procesing time is maximum 6 months.
We have since contacted the European commision office in Dublin, the Immigration council office and our local TD.Everyone seems powerless to do anything. So we'll just have to wait till they get around to us, as the people from the justice ministry said.
Another thing, they take both you and your spouses' passport for that time and your husband wont be able to leave the country.This i think is the worse part because my grandfather died and i wasn't able to leave the country to attend the funeral.
I hope that i dont sound too doom and gloom ,but i just wanted to share my story with you.

[JAJ]

Hi Babstar,

I am a non-eu national married to a German citizen resident in Ireland and i applied for leave to remain last year october,it's past eight months now and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. We have submitted all the documents requested.In our confirmation letter from the Justice ministry , it clearly stated procesing time is maximum 6 months.
We have since contacted the European commision office in Dublin, the Immigration council office and our local TD.Everyone seems powerless to do anything. So we'll just have to wait till they get around to us, as the people from the justice ministry said.
Another thing, they take both you and your spouses' passport for that time and your husband wont be able to leave the country.This i think is the worse part because my grandfather died and i wasn't able to leave the country to attend the funeral.
I hope that i dont sound too doom and gloom ,but i just wanted to share my story with you.

Have you thought about moving across the border to Northern Ireland? The pathway to British permanent residence and British citizenship seems a lot simpler than the inordinate delays in the Republic of Ireland.