Appeal Successful.

[billy89]

HI all my wife and kids applied for Stamp EU4 FAM in December 2015.In March 2016 she received the temporary 6 month stamp which expired in July 2016.
In August 2016 she received a letter saying that she had been refused as I her husband was born in Northern Ireland and therefore could not be exercising my rights in Ireland as according to the Irish constitution I was an Irish citizen as I was born on the Island of Ireland.
We lodged an appeal in September last year,saying that I under the Belfast Agreement had the choice to decide whether I was Irish,British or both and Irish citizenship could not be automatically conferred upon me without my consent.I had also never had an Irish passport.
Three weeks ago we received a letter asking for up to date documents relating to my employment in Ireland and also granting my wife another temporary stamp for a further 6 months while the review was ongoing.
We sent the required documents away,and to our surprise on Monday received another letter saying that our appeal had been successful and we can go to the Garda station for the full 5 year stamp.

[NiallPP]

Hi Billy, congrats on your appeal. Can I ask did you move simply from Northern Ireland to Ireland or did you live elsewhere first? Do you think its the fact you declared yourself born in Northern Ireland that gave them the red flag to initially reject you?

I'm a dual British/Irish citizen and I am considering taking the EU route to Ireland with my spouse. However I was born and grew up in England, later gaining citizenship through family. I do have an Irish passport and have occasionally used it in the past (though currently using British). I'm wondering if you have any insight on if we are likely to get a refusal like yours (which would be more difficult to appeal for me)? I've heard quite contradictory advice and experiences so any help much appreciated.

[billy89]

HI Niall,
We were living in Brazil,I came back to Northern Ireland first and then a few months later my wife and kids joined me in Ireland.
I think the refusal was them only trying their luck to be honest,as I contacted the immigrant council of Ireland and they had never heard of a refusal on them grounds before.
The immigrant council told me that if I had an Irish passport as well as my British passport then the refusal would have been correct,but maybe with you being born and brought up in England it might be different.
Google Immigrant council of Ireland and give them a call,they were a great help to us.They drafted the letter for our appeal and it worked.I also contacted a solicitor and they were going to charge me 800 Euros for a similar letter!

[NiallPP]

Thanks for the response and the advice, that's very helpful, I will look into immigrant council. I was surprised they even tried the rejection in your case given the fact you'd never claimed Irish citizenship, glad things resolved themselves.

In my case i'm hoping they would have no call to question my dual citizenship and check up on me, though not sure what sort of checks they might run. Aside from my name my history is pretty England-centric. Plan b is to switch to domestic immigration route, though i'd much rather a smooth path, this is enough of a headache as it is!

[MKA2015]

Congratulations billy89 and thank you for updating the forum.

It' gives a little more peace of mind to learn appeals don't go to the back of the queue after a lengthy wait the first time. (Not that 6 months itself is not long!)