Irish Citizen with Non EU Spouse.

[steadynow]

Hello,

I'm an Irish Citizen who spent 16 years in Canada and am married to a Canadian Citizen.
I was born in Northern Ireland returned there during the last year as my father was very ill, and recently passed away.
My wife recently joined me, arriving in Dublin in Sept, & got her passport stamped for 3 months where we stated our intention to resettle. We have both taken up residence in the Republic, but, for the time being I am working in the North.

I just want to make sure I am doing these steps in the correct order as some of the applications we are making accept different forms of 'proof of residence'. My current understanding is that we can get a PPS number for her, then see the Garda to get a stamp 4, and then apply for EU1 residence card.

1 - We are currently staying with friends & have an appointment to get wife a PPS number (& for me to get a PSC card from my old number). It states on their website (www.welfare.ie) that they accept ...

*If you are staying with friends or relatives, an original household bill plus a note from the bill holder confirming your residency at the bill address is acceptable. This note can be written on the bill itself.

This should mean that we get mailed out proof or residence, with our names to that address for us within a week.

2- We have an appointment with the Garda booked for mid November where we will bring our documentation including passports, marriage cert & proof of address (letters regarding her pps & my psc). This will hopefully result in her passport getting stamp 4 allowing her to stay and work in the country

3 - EU1 application form. This I'm unsure of, do we send this in after the stamp 4? Also I am currently working in the North of Ireland as it was the first job i could secure, will this have a negative impact on the application, I am currently seeking work in the Republic but thought it better to have proven income asap.

[Zoot7]

1: I can confirm that they accept that. My wife (who is from The Philippines) was able to get a PPS number and PSC card with a utility bill in one of my parents names along with a letter from them saying she was living there. This was well before we got utility bills in our own names. On a side note - this is something I recommend doing as soon as you can, get as many as you can and get them named jointly.

They're quick to give out PPS numbers - they want her to start paying tax ASAP.

2: When we went to get my wife her Stamp 4, we were asked for an address but not actual proof of it. Your mileage may vary there, there are different stories for different people. I could never seem to find what they would or wouldn't accept here, there's no list that I'm aware of. I think it's at the Garda Immigration Officer's discretion. But you should try to have a bill or something in your own name, it would make it easier.

3. The EU1 application form is irrelevent in your case because you're an Irish citizen. The EU1 application form is only required if you were a EU citizen (but not Irish) living in Ireland who wanted their non-EEA spouse to join them. Once your wife has the Stamp4 from the GNIB, that's it - you're good to go and nothing further needs to be done. She'll be able to stay for 3 years after that, renew it once after that and then apply for citizenship.

With regards to the order, we actually got the Stamp4 first and then got the PPS number for my wife, I'm not sure if there's a hard and fast rule there.