Dear Sirs,
My wife, daughter and I are planning to visit Ireland in the new future. Our daughter and I are British citizens, while my wife is Russian.
We are permanent residents in Italy, having lived here continuously for over 5 years.
My wife was issued in 2007 with the Italian "residence card as a famlily member of an EU citizen", in accordance with Art. 10 of Directive 2004/38/EC.
This card, valid for five years, expired in May 2012 and was replaced by a "permanent residence card for a family member of an EU citizen", in accordance with Art. 20 of Directive 2004/38/EC, which I quote for your convenience:
Article 20
Permanent residence card for family members who are not nationals of a Member State
1. Member States shall issue family members who are not nationals of a Member State entitled to permanent residence with a permanent residence card within six months of the submission of the application. The permanent residence card shall be renewable automatically every ten years.
2. The application for a permanent residence card shall be submitted before the residence card expires. Failure to comply with the requirement to apply for a permanent residence card may render the person concerned liable to proportionate and non-discriminatory sanctions.
3. Interruption in residence not exceeding two consecutive years shall not affect the validity of the permanent residence card.
From my reading of the following, taken from S.I. No. 345 of 2011
(
http://www.dfa.ie/uploads/documents/Con ... 202011.pdf):
3. It is hereby declared that the following classes of non-nationals are specified as classes the members of which are not required to be in possession of a valid Irish visa when landing in the State:
(...)
(c) non-nationals who are family members of a Union citizen and holders of a document called “Residence card of a family member of a Union
citizen”, as referred to in Article 10 of the Directive of 2004;
(...)
It seems that only residence cards valid for five years are acceptable for entry into Ireland, while permanent residence cards are not, which seems an absurd situation.
Am I to understand that for entry into Ireland with a residence card, my wife would have been allowed in six months ago with her old card while now she would be refused and would need to apply for a visa, or does commonsense apply at port in Ireland and my wife will not be denied entry?
Please find attached copies of both residence cards in question.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Richard66