Arrival in Ireland (with Non EEA Spouse) - Next Steps

[NiallPP]

Hi all,

I posted previously asking about options for moving to Ireland with my husband (In this thread). We ultimately opted on the EU free movement route. Initial short stay visa took a while to process (through Vietnamese embassy) but ultimately arrival was smooth. We arrived on 5th July 2017 and my husband was issued with 3 month initial stamp of permission to remain (until 5th October 2017). In brief:

- Me = UK citizen
- My husband = Non EEA citizen from Asia
- Married since 2013
- Intending to live and work in Ireland

Most of our energies have been focused on getting this far but now we're here i'm trying to clarify exactly how to best go about the next steps and getting the EU4 stamp. There are a lot of useful threads on this forum but some of them now seem a little out of date as some things seem to have changed including registration in Dublin. I've been using this thread as a guide to the general order of things (even though we don't intend to go to UK) but its a few years out of date.

- We were very fortunate to be offered a longer term rental contract at an apartment we initially rented short term for airbnb. The thought of the current housing crisis in Dublin was of huge concern. We are signing a contract starting 21st July and will then be able to use this for proof of address. Is it important to have utility bills in our names as well as a rental contract as the agreement we've made includes bills? What about the "Letters of Registration of Tenancy from the Private Residential Tenancies Board"?

- On arrival in Ireland we were given details on registering with INIS in Dublin and told to make an appointment asap as they were currently experiencing a backlog of around 8-9 weeks. Checking their site I see there are actually plenty of appointments available over the next few weeks (presumably cancellations). Should we wait until after sending off the EU1 form to organise this appointment or is it best to make an appointment first? (if the latter how far off should it be realistically booked) What are they actually going to want to see on the day of the registration?

- My plan is to register as self-employed, open a bank account for my business and continue to work in the consultancy area I was previously operating in Asia. Are there more stringent stipulations now for self-employment? The thread I referenced above made this sound fairly straightforward but I wanted to check on any recent experiences?

- What is the current procedure for getting hold of a PPS number? What documents will they ask from myself and my spouse?

If i've missed any threads with recent answers to these questions I apologise, this forum is full of so much information for so many different circumstances that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Any help getting my head around the best approach from here is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Niall.

[dupalsky]

Your next step is, you need to register for PPS No. For this, you will need to have a bill in your name or have your landlord or whoever you are living to provide their bill with a cover letter.

Once, you receive the PPS letter, you will need, which will take a couple of weeks, you will need to register with revenue office as self employed. You can do this online or go to their office. There are two popular options: (1) register as a sole trader, this means you do not have a company name. (2) as register with a company name, assuming you have one.

Once you receive a confirmation letter from them, you can take the letter among other things to the Bank to open a bank account. Requirement depend on the bank of your choice and the requirements should be on their website.

Once you receive your PPS No and register with the revenue, you can proceed to applying for your partner visa. You will need to download and print out an EU1 application, fill it out with all required documents and send it to the immigration office on. Their address and requirements are on their website. After a couple of weeks, you will receive an acknowledgement letter and probably further letters should they need more documents. If the document you sent if satisfactory, they will send you a letter with which you will go to the immigration. This normally takes about two months from the date of the application, under normal circumstance.

When you receive your letter for temporary stamp, you will need to make an appointment and bring the immigration letter among other things, like payslip etc and your partner with you.

My advice is, take it step by step and each step you can ask question on here and people will try to help, as it can be overwhelming to grasp sometimes!

Dupalsky

[NiallPP]

Hi Dupalsky,

Thanks so much for your response, much appreciated. It is definitely overwhelming so trying to take your advice and do things step-by-step! A couple of questions:

- For the PPS, it sounds like I need to show evidence as to why a PPS Number is required. What is the easiest way to do this? For me and my non EEA husband?

- Also which documents are required? According to this link I need passport, another photo id and proof of address. I will have these but my husband has no other photo ID than his passport.

- Appointment for registration. Given that these have such a backlog in Dublin would it be most sensible to book something now in anticipation that we will have completed all the previous steps by the time it comes around?

Thanks again for all your assistance.

Niall.

[dupalsky]

I think the new requirement is that you need to have started working first before requesting for it. But in your case, you are self employed. So technically, you already have a job. You just need to show them the proof of your business.

Just let them know that you want to register your self employed business with the revenue and you can't do that without a a PPS No.

What matters at the moment is registration for you first. Your non-eu husband only has right to stay here because of your right and you are not exercising your rights if you are not working. you have basically, I think 3 months from the date of your arrival in the state as grace period to sort these things out, otherwise, he will be illegal here after that. So you need to MOVE FAST! However, his passport is sufficient as an ID among other things they mention there that you need to bring. I think what you saw there was a mention of passport photograph.

Yes! You can book the appointment now, but make sure that you give yourself enough time to finish gathering all paper work and the time it will take for Immigration to reply you. If I was to say, I will suggest that you don't book the appointment yet until you have all document and you are ready to send it. It will take immigration about 1 to 2 months to reply you anyways. Also, there is always cancellations and they release them at 2:30pm everyday. But the truth is, it can be release at anytime, so is better to keep an eye on it every minute. So you can always get a near date if you really need to. All you need to do is keep and eye on the website for cancellation to be released.

Sunny

[NiallPP]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I've booked an appointment for us both at the Welfare Office to try to get the PPSN (in 2 weeks, when we will have a signed property contract). I will take the approach you suggest, but what will be considered a reasonable reason for my husband to request a PPSN? Presumably since he doesnt yet have the right to work he cannot use the same reasoning as me. Sounds like we might just have to get mine for now and go back for his when he has the right to work.

Any recommendations for the easiest banks to deal with here?

Thanks,

Niall.

[shpirtshqipe]

Once you get a few utility bills on your husband's name you can try KBC as they are fairly easy to deal with.

Don't fixate too much on getting a PPS number for your husband at the moment but rather setup yourself first (as you are already doing) so that ideally by the last 2 weeks of your husband's visa expiry date you'll be ready to proceed with the EU1 application.

Once you've registered as self employed and become a company director, there's no reason why you can't employ your husband therefore this becoming the reason for getting a PPS number. All your husband will need is a letter from yourself stating intention to employ him as a secretary or whatever job title you wish to give him.

As aforementioned in previous posts your status is what matters most so 2 months worth of utility bills, tenancy agreement etc will make sure you're considered an ordinary resident in Ireland. Similarly make sure wherever it is possible that you have joint accounts (broadband, gas, electricity etc) so that both of you show Activities in the State.

Hope this helps

[dupalsky]

Since you have booked the appointment for the both of you, maybe you guys will get lucky and they will give you both, but if they don't, don't worry about it. Your husband can always apply later.

Let me be clear, your husband has the right to work now already. The EU law provides him with the exact same right as you. But the problem is, no employer will employ him or should I say take the risk of employing him without his GNIB card and he can only get the card after YOU have gone through these processes. By the way, the PPS No guys might require his GNIP card before they can issue him with a PPS No.

The best bank in my opinion is Ulster bank. Most banks charge exhorbitant amount in administration or transaction fee. This fee is charged every quarter(4 monthly). E.g AIB charged me almost €20 for last quarter even though I barely use them. They charge this based on how many transactions that was made on your account. Where as Ulster bank charge €4 every quarter(4 months) regardless of how many transaction you made on your account.

Dupalsky

[romaan]

Hi all,

I posted previously asking about options for moving to Ireland with my husband (In this thread). We ultimately opted on the EU free movement route. Initial short stay visa took a while to process (through Vietnamese embassy) but ultimately arrival was smooth. We arrived on 5th July 2017 and my husband was issued with 3 month initial stamp of permission to remain (until 5th October 2017). In brief:

- Me = UK citizen
- My husband = Non EEA citizen from Asia
- Married since 2013
- Intending to live and work in Ireland

Most of our energies have been focused on getting this far but now we're here i'm trying to clarify exactly how to best go about the next steps and getting the EU4 stamp. There are a lot of useful threads on this forum but some of them now seem a little out of date as some things seem to have changed including registration in Dublin. I've been using this thread as a guide to the general order of things (even though we don't intend to go to UK) but its a few years out of date.

- We were very fortunate to be offered a longer term rental contract at an apartment we initially rented short term for airbnb. The thought of the current housing crisis in Dublin was of huge concern. We are signing a contract starting 21st July and will then be able to use this for proof of address. Is it important to have utility bills in our names as well as a rental contract as the agreement we've made includes bills? What about the "Letters of Registration of Tenancy from the Private Residential Tenancies Board"?

- On arrival in Ireland we were given details on registering with INIS in Dublin and told to make an appointment asap as they were currently experiencing a backlog of around 8-9 weeks. Checking their site I see there are actually plenty of appointments available over the next few weeks (presumably cancellations). Should we wait until after sending off the EU1 form to organise this appointment or is it best to make an appointment first? (if the latter how far off should it be realistically booked) What are they actually going to want to see on the day of the registration?

- My plan is to register as self-employed, open a bank account for my business and continue to work in the consultancy area I was previously operating in Asia. Are there more stringent stipulations now for self-employment? The thread I referenced above made this sound fairly straightforward but I wanted to check on any recent experiences?

- What is the current procedure for getting hold of a PPS number? What documents will they ask from myself and my spouse?

If i've missed any threads with recent answers to these questions I apologise, this forum is full of so much information for so many different circumstances that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Any help getting my head around the best approach from here is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Hi
I really need some help here I would like some to advise me step by step please. I am British Citizen working in UK. My wife is from Morocco, as you know that in UK my Salary should be 18,600 to bring my wife to UJ. As I was looking for job with good salary during this time we applied for a visit visa to UK but her visa was refused. we got married in 2015 I usually visit her after 3 or 4 months but still my wife is so unhappy coz of this situation. Now we are planning to move to ireland. Your help in this regrads will be highly appreciated. Please explain it o me how to go about it? currently im in UK and working. what do i need to do ?
Niall.

[NiallPP]

Thanks for the further responses. Is the best approach to the PPN situation going to be to suggest my husband also needs the number to register as self employed then (which he is intending to do as soon as he is able)? If he technically has the legal right to work under EU rules then presumably he should be eligible for a PPN. I will see what we can do but if nothing doing then we will return later on for his.

I was going to register as a sole trader but might look into the company option too.

The deal we've made with our new landlord is inclusive of bills, so we are unlikely to have utility bills, though this is stated in the tenancy agreement we will obviously submit with our application. I'm hoping this won't prove too much of an issue.

Will try Ulster bank, thanks for the recommendations.

[NiallPP]

Hi
I really need some help here I would like some to advise me step by step please. I am British Citizen working in UK. My wife is from Morocco, as you know that in UK my Salary should be 18,600 to bring my wife to UJ. As I was looking for job with good salary during this time we applied for a visit visa to UK but her visa was refused. we got married in 2015 I usually visit her after 3 or 4 months but still my wife is so unhappy coz of this situation. Now we are planning to move to ireland. Your help in this regrads will be highly appreciated. Please explain it o me how to go about it? currently im in UK and working. what do i need to do ?

Hi,

I don't think you will be eligible for the same route as us, as I believe you need to have been living outside your home country already to take advantage of free movement law. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than myself will correct me on this though. Best of luck to you regardless!

Best regards,

Niall.

[NiallPP]

Successfully applied for PPS numbers today, for both of us. They were very friendly and helpful. Aside from ID document (passports) and proof of address (used tenancy agreement) we also had to show some evidence of intending to be self employed, so the guy who was handling our case filled in most of the information and asked us to come back with filled in TR1 (revenue application for self assessment) forms as proof of seeking self employment. He helpfully sent us off to the Revenue office down the road and as soon as we'd returned with partially filled forms all was good. Hopefully this might be helpful for others in the position in the future.

I tried with Ulster Bank but they are not accepting tenancy agreements as proof of address, so it looks like we're going to have to wait for utility bills.

[Wanderer]

Successfully applied for PPS numbers today, for both of us. They were very friendly and helpful. Aside from ID document (passports) and proof of address (used tenancy agreement) we also had to show some evidence of intending to be self employed, so the guy who was handling our case filled in most of the information and asked us to come back with filled in TR1 (revenue application for self assessment) forms as proof of seeking self employment. He helpfully sent us off to the Revenue office down the road and as soon as we'd returned with partially filled forms all was good. Hopefully this might be helpful for others in the position in the future.

I tried with Ulster Bank but they are not accepting tenancy agreements as proof of address, so it looks like we're going to have to wait for utility bills.

Try AIB, I got mine with just the lease. Basic account, it's all I need, especially as in this country everything costs extra!

[NiallPP]

Thanks for the info Wanderer, will have a look into AIB though with the costs of accounts here in Ireland Ulster Bank looks a good option for a long term account!

[NiallPP]

Just to update this, we ended up opening a joint account with Permanent TSB who accepted Passports and A Virgin Media TV Statement in both our names as proof of address. They seem one of the more reasonably priced banks (i.e. don't charge for ATM withdrawals or Debit Card payments as some banks seem to) though Irish banks seem to be geared to be expensive to use!

I'm planning to be self employed so next step is to open a further business bank account to record these transactions.

What is the general consensus on the right time to actually send EU1 application? Once we have our first bank statement? Should I wait until enough business transactions are recorded? I realise that documents can be sent on later but is it best to wait for a fuller application?

I am conscious of the fact that we are over 1 month into the 3 month visa and the confirmation of application and invitation for registration seems to be taking over a month for people...

[Confused 1]

Hi all,

I posted previously asking about options for moving to Ireland with my husband (In this thread). We ultimately opted on the EU free movement route. Initial short stay visa took a while to process (through Vietnamese embassy) but ultimately arrival was smooth. We arrived on 5th July 2017 and my husband was issued with 3 month initial stamp of permission to remain (until 5th October 2017). In brief:

- Me = UK citizen
- My husband = Non EEA citizen from Asia
- Married since 2013
- Intending to live and work in Ireland

Most of our energies have been focused on getting this far but now we're here i'm trying to clarify exactly how to best go about the next steps and getting the EU4 stamp. There are a lot of useful threads on this forum but some of them now seem a little out of date as some things seem to have changed including registration in Dublin. I've been using this thread as a guide to the general order of things (even though we don't intend to go to UK) but its a few years out of date.

- We were very fortunate to be offered a longer term rental contract at an apartment we initially rented short term for airbnb. The thought of the current housing crisis in Dublin was of huge concern. We are signing a contract starting 21st July and will then be able to use this for proof of address. Is it important to have utility bills in our names as well as a rental contract as the agreement we've made includes bills? What about the "Letters of Registration of Tenancy from the Private Residential Tenancies Board"?

- On arrival in Ireland we were given details on registering with INIS in Dublin and told to make an appointment asap as they were currently experiencing a backlog of around 8-9 weeks. Checking their site I see there are actually plenty of appointments available over the next few weeks (presumably cancellations). Should we wait until after sending off the EU1 form to organise this appointment or is it best to make an appointment first? (if the latter how far off should it be realistically booked) What are they actually going to want to see on the day of the registration?

- My plan is to register as self-employed, open a bank account for my business and continue to work in the consultancy area I was previously operating in Asia. Are there more stringent stipulations now for self-employment? The thread I referenced above made this sound fairly straightforward but I wanted to check on any recent experiences?

- What is the current procedure for getting hold of a PPS number? What documents will they ask from myself and my spouse?

If i've missed any threads with recent answers to these questions I apologise, this forum is full of so much information for so many different circumstances that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Any help getting my head around the best approach from here is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Niall.

Hi Niall

I am currently in England and my wife is in Morocco. I am thinking of applying for a short stay 3 month visa. I rang the embassy in Morocco and the lady had no clue what I was talking about. Could you please guide me on how to apply for a short stay visa? Its an online application and then print and submit and pay the fee? Have you got a sample letter I can submit to declare that I will be joining my wife etc?

Your support is highly appreciated.

Many Thanks

[NiallPP]

Hi Confused 1,

Unfortunately I don't think you are able to take advantage of this same route because you live in England. I presume you are a UK passport holder?

This guide is very useful and makes the free movement rules fairly easily understood: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/doc ... 013_en.pdf

Hope that helps

Thanks,

Niall.

[NiallPP]

It is now almost 2 months to the day since we entered Ireland and there is a month left on my husband's entry stamp.

We finally have PPS numbers, bank accounts (both business and personal), I have registered for income tax, income transactions (self employed) have not yet registered on my business bank account but as soon as they do i'm planning to send in the EU1 form (within the next couple of weeks)

There is a month til the end of the current visa, and by the sounds of it we will likely not receive an invite for registration of a temporary stamp in this time , though hopefully we will have time to at least get a confirmation of application. Am I right in thinking that once the EU1 form has been sent it effectively elongates the legal presence in the state? That we should have no problems when finally going to register with the GNIB given the date in the passport will have passed?

Any thoughts and assistance appreciated.

[dupalsky]

Yes, your right. Once you send th application, he is fine.

Dupalsky

[NiallPP]

Thanks Dupalsky!