Post
by Brigid from Ireland » Fri Feb 14, 2014 12:24 pm
I would recommend any town that has a train connection to Dublin. The most obvious example is Longford/Edgesworth - it is far enough away from Dublin that property is relatively cheap to rent, particularly as there is a massive oversupply of property there. It also has a train connection that would get you to Dublin in time for work at 9 o'clock, if you were doing a standard 9-5 job. The problem with places like Waterford is that there are too few jobs. So look for towns where property is cheap AND you can get to Dublin for work. You can rent a three bed house in Edgeworthstown for 350/month or a one bed apt in Longford for 75/week, according to daft.ie today.
The problem is that travel to Dublin for work will cost about 25 euro per day, but if you only work part time two days a week that is not high. The other good thing about working part time two days a week is that if you have been working in the UK you can use the NI contributions from the UK/any country in Europe to claim part time jobseekers benefit for the days you don't work. Even if you have never worked you can try to get part time jobseekers allowance (but this is not guaranteed, benefit is definite if you meet set rules, for allowance the sw office use 'judgement on habitual residence' as well as rules, so there is no guarantee you will get allowance). If your wife is living with you and has no income you can get quite a lot on jobseekers if you work two days a week.
The key to getting support is that you need to work in any job for at least one day. That triggers an entitlement to jobseekers benefit, if you have paid enough NI in the UK. Then the key to getting a visa for non-eu spouse is that you continue to work, but part time will be enough. They will ask for current payslips after spouse has been here three months, and again after another six months, and then spouse gets 5 year visa, as you have been working 9 months at that stage and one year of work (which is an exact 52 weeks of payslips even if you only work one day a week) gives you considerable rights to social welfare and permanent residence for your spouse.
The other good news is that if the girl gives birth to a child in Ireland, and one parent is a UK citizen, that child is automatically an Irish citizen. If that happens, the non-EU parent can apply to stay in Ireland under Zambrano (parent of Irish child living in Ireland). This is almost always granted (unless the non EU parent has been convicted of something very serious like terrorist activity).
BL