Australian non eeu to marry irish fiance needs advice

[Diffy1]

Hi,
I am Australian and plan to marry my irish fiance this year.

I spent a year in Ireland last year where i met my fiance. I want to be able to live with him in Ireland after we get married. I've heard all different things about how to go about getting a spouse visa and no authorities seem to be of any help and i am going in circles.

My questions are:
1) Should/would it be easier to marry outside of ireland? (for immigration purposes)

I've heard its easier to come back into ireland as married rather than doing it all here.

2)If we get married in N.I. and want to live together in ireland what sort of procedure would i have to go through (what forms do i need to fill out) and how long would it take? Will we need to prove our relationship?

To my knowledge if me and my fiance get married in northern ireland Its just a less painful and more straight forward procedure.

Any suggestions on what we might do? I guess i just want to get all the paper work and worries out of my head before we marry.


Cheers Diffy1

[Frances1978]

I've recently been through a similar situation. I'm from New Zealand, and married my Irish fiance outside of the country. I entered the country on the basis of my marriage (I had my marriage certificate and went through the queue with my husband). I was told to register at the garda station where I live. This was pretty painless and took around 20 minutes in total. We were asked to bring in both passports, proof of address (which was never looked at) and our marriage certificate. After being asked if we'd met over the internet (we hadn't), I was issued with a stamp 4 for one year (apparently you can ask for up to 5 years, but I was only given one year and told I can apply for the remainder when I have to go in to register next year) which entitled me to work for whoever I wanted without requiring a permit. That was my experience anyway. I think there are quite a number of posts detailing people's experiences.

I think it might be far more troublesome to get married in the country and then apply to switch your status from a visitor (but I'm not sure about that - like you said, there is nothing to tell you what to do) to the spouse of an irish citizen. I think other members might be able to comment on this further.

[EK]

do not get married in Ireland as the waiting time is one year. My wife is non-eu and has been waiting for one year now. No work entitlement and no travel either