Irish citizen returning home with non-EU national spouse

[MonicaL]

Hi,

I'm an Irish citizen - born and bred. I moved legally to the US 4 years ago where I met an illegal Mexican immigrant. We have a child together and are planning to get married soon.

Within the next couple of years we want to move back (for me) to Ireland. What are the issues facing us/him when coming from the US? Do the Irish immigration officials care about what country we enter from? Will they question his status in the US?

We want to know what we are facing before arriving on the doorstep so to speak.

Thanks,
ML

[archigabe]

If you are not married, irish immigration will want to see proof of 'partnership' such as bills,bank statements as proof of cohabitation/partnership.IF he has no papers in the U.S I don't see how you can prove that.

[JAJ]

Hi,

I'm an Irish citizen - born and bred. I moved legally to the US 4 years ago where I met an illegal Mexican immigrant. We have a child together and are planning to get married soon.

Within the next couple of years we want to move back (for me) to Ireland. What are the issues facing us/him when coming from the US? Do the Irish immigration officials care about what country we enter from? Will they question his status in the US?

Presumably you're aware that you will lose your Green Card when you leave the United States (and your husband will face a bar etc).

Is it an option for you to become a U.S. citizen, after which you can sponsor your husband to adjust status? (if interested, you should get legal advice on the practicalities of naturalization while your husband is unlawful).

[weemac]

archigabe

Is this 'partnership' similiar to the 'common law' husband and wife that countries such as Australia has? ie: we're not married but our in a long term relationship, one national one non-national, therefore allowing the non-national to be allowed stay legally.

I know this exists else where, don't know if it exists here or what is quired to apply for it, or even where to start. Did some searchs but got nothing, maybe looking for the wrong words.

Much appreciated

[yankeegirl]

In order to have an unmarried partner immigrate to Ireland, you have to prove a relationship akin to marriage (living together). I think the requirement for Ireland is 4 years. The person could be grated permission to stay, but would still require a work permit to work.
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000278

[helixblue]

Presumably you're aware that you will lose your Green Card when you leave the United States (and your husband will face a bar etc).

As long as you step foot on US soil one day per year, you should be able to keep your Green Card just fine.

[scrudu]

In response to Yankeegirls info, these rules would not apply to MonicaL as she is Irish. Ireland does not recognise de-facto relationships. The one exception to this rule is for EU citizens and their de-facto partners (hetro or homo I think). If MonicaL is married to her partner when she applies, most likely (if she can prove their relationship is legit and they have funds), then her Spouse would be issued with a D-Spouse Visa, and a Stamp 4 "Spouse of Irish" Residency Permit on entering Ireland and registering with the GNIB. This would allow him to reside and work freely.

I haven't seen any documentation that says the DoJ recognises de-facto relationships for Irish citizens. Accorirding to this DoJ "Family Member of EU Citizen Website", such partners need to be in a relationship for min. 2 years.

[yankeegirl]

You, know, I really hate how consistently inconsistent the Irish government is. The page you posted does clearly say 2 year requirement for de-facto relationship with an EEA national.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000023

If you look on that page, where it lists the differentreasons for residency, it lists de-facto relationships as a separate category and brings you to the page that I linked earlier, where it states a 4 year requirement. No mention of the other partner being an EEA national and since that scenario is mentioned on the Dependants of an EEA national page, I had figured that the other requirement was for partners of Irish citizens. That INIS site is ridiculous, and in my experience it does no good to email to get a question answered. I emailed them over a month ago with a different query and never got a reply.

[JAJ]

Presumably you're aware that you will lose your Green Card when you leave the United States (and your husband will face a bar etc).

As long as you step foot on US soil one day per year, you should be able to keep your Green Card just fine.

That is perhaps the Number One myth of U.S. Immigration - it's not true.

[scrudu]

yankeegirl: Agreed, I usually take the DoJ site as an "advice" page, but definitely not the definitive guide. Pretty sad really.

I'm guessing the reason they dont accept de-facto relationships for Irish is that de-facto relationships of any type are not recognised in Ireland. So if 2 Irish citizens (and residents) are living in a defacto relationship (homo or hetro), this relationship is not recognised in any legal way, as anything other than co-habitation. Hence Irish returning citizens being treated under the same rules.

But under the EU Directive which the Irish government had to rationalise, they had to recognise defacto relationships. So if you are EU and in a defacto relationship with a nonEU partner, the relationship will be recognised, but if you are Irish and in a defacto relationship with a nonEU partner, the relationship will be recognised. Smart eh!