My New Zealand Partner moving to Ireland

[smiley012]

Ok, so I'm really hoping to get some advice as the Irish gov website is just full of jargon and vague sentences...

I'm an Irish national, currently living in Australia with my NZ partner. We have been together for 4 years, and are now looking to relocate to Ireland. We aren't married (they don't recognise same-sex marriage here), and don't have a civil union. If it helps the process to move to Ireland, we can definitely look at doing it.

We have joint bank accounts, both of our names on apartment lease, all bills, insurance etc, mostly in both of our names.

Obviously have heaps of photos, and can easily get letters supporting our relationship (I had to do all of this to be recognised as an NZ's spouse in the eyes of the Australian law.)

How do I even get this process started? We're not moving until March 2015, but I have read in some places that it takes 12 months to get your application even looked at...

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help...

[chaoclive]

Partners of Irish nationals: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Jo ... _Residence

If you were to get married/have a civil partnership (union) it probably would be easier. See this from the INIS: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Jo ... sh_Citizen.

Please note that there are new requirements for the spouse visa: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Family%2 ... cument.pdf. I recommend that you become familiar with the contents of this document.

Are you only interested in returning to Ireland? What about moving to the UK under the EEA rules? Look into the EEA Family Permit for the UK: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucit ... ly-permit/ (This might be shaky ground if the UK really leave the EU).