Chirurgie wrote:I am married for over 8 years to my Irish wife. I was in Ireland from 1992 till 2002 and we were married in 2000 and have both now moved to UK for work reasons since 2002.
My question is:
Can I initiate application for Irish citizenship by marriage even though we are not currently (or planning to in near future) living in Ireland?
If so, what sepcific forms do I need and how long does the application take?
Lastly, should I enlist help of an Immigration Lawyer to facilitate things and if so, any recommendations of any good ones, especially able to deal with me by email overseas?
thanks for any input!
Hi Chirurgie
Unfortunately, post-nuptial declaration has ceased in Nov 2005. By that route you would have been able to get Irish Citizenship from the Irish embassy in London. The only way now for Irish citizens spouses is to apply through the long naturalisation process which may take upto 3 years in the queue. The difficult part for you is the residency requirements (you need 3 years of documented residency in Ireland prior to your application). By "documented" I mean sequential garda immigration stamps in your passport. You can sort these from now on by starting stamping your passport in Ireland (stamp 4) and getting the green card, but you have to wait for 3 years from the date of your first stamp. You can sort the stamps while STILL living in the UK. But the problem you will be faced with at the time of your application (i.e. after 3 yrs) is the proof of irish address for you and your wife (joint address). This means that - may be 2 months prior to your planned application date - you and your family need to actually move to an Irish address and provide 3 proofs of your joint address (3 utility bills for example or joint mortgage statements). You can take leave from your work then or fly back and forth or leave your wife in Ireland for that period while you remain in the UK working - it is upto your choice then. The last hurdle, but this could be the easy one, is the tax statements (P21 certificates) and the last 3 pay slips (yes, exactly as for applications based on 5 yrs work). They are required from spouses in the naturalisation application, and if you are not working in Ireland, you need to convince them - probably by a cover letter - that you are un-employed in Ireland at the time of your application (half of the truth), without telling them you are still working in the UK. The Form you need to apply with is Form 8. See the following link:
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000044
Good luck and all the best
