Post
by Brigid from Ireland » Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:51 pm
You need to get a letter from some official Irish state agency, sent to you at the hostel. This is your proof of address (a hostel is a respectable address). In other words, the hostel is ok, but a letter from the hostel is not sufficient. You must be able to show that you receive mail at the hostel. So you write to some government department, with an easy question, and when they send back the answer to you at the hostel, their letter is your proof of address (not the letter from the hostel). Revenue is the best department to write to, so simply send them a letter stating 'I wish to request copies of all my personal data that you hold. I make this request under FOI law. My name is X and my date of birth is Y. Please reply to my postal address at ?'. You can send to Revenue by e-mail or by registered post. Revenue must write to you to acknowledge this letter within 21 days, and their letter of acknowledgement is your proof of address. (It sounds stupid and complicated but it works). Your non-EU parent should write the same letter to Revenue, as they willl also need proof of address.
When you get the proof of address from Revenue, you should go with all family members to the pps office.
Each should have a letter from Revenue addressed to them at the hostel as proof of their address.
Each should have a passport - original passport. One family member needs an EU passport.
Each should have a document confirming how they are related to the EU passport holder. So if the holder of the EU passport has his birth certificate, this is proof for his parents that they are related to the EU citizen. Or if the EU citizen has a spouse then the spouse needs the marriage certificate as her proof of relationship.
If the EU citizen has worked in other EU country, he should bring the ID number of that country (eg National Insurance (NI) number for UK, PESEL for Poland...).
The above is the minimum required. Then you apply for the pps number, and they are required by law to take your application, process it and either give the pps number (it is sent in the post a few days later) or give a reason in writing for the refusal of the pps number. So if they refuse verbally to take your application for the pps number, you leave politely and complain that day by email that your lawful application for a pps number was not accepted by the office. You explain in the e-mail that you wish for a formal written decision on the matter, and a verbal refusal to take the application form is not acceptable to you.
You need to do all of the above in the first three months of your time in Ireland, as they can ask for extra documents if you are in Ireland longer than three months.
BL
