American moving to Ireland.

Willymuncher

My Amercian fiancee is planning on moving to Ireland in June, I have heard it is very hard to get a visa and a work permit, she will have a job available to her but I was told this has to be sorted out before she enters the country? is this true? I hope it could be sorted after entering because that is what we intended to do, we rang the Irish embassy in the US and were talking to an extremely rude bitch who gave us absolutely no information, will it be possible to apply for an extended visa after she has entered the country and then perhaps for a work permit?

I expect there to be a fair amount of hassle but it'd be much easier if we could sort everything out while she is here.

DOLEMAN

Basically, Ireland has made it difficult for Americans to work in Ireland because America makes it difficult for Irish people (not arguing, just explaining the reason!)

In Europe, you have to prove there is no European person available for a job before you can employ a non-EU person. As you can imagine, this is quite difficult for non-skilled jobs. Things like Software Development, Architecture, Accountancy, it's a lot easier.

Because your girlfriend already has a job available, why can she not wait until the work permit is sorted? Or would she rather have a little holiday here before that? (as far as I know, this is OK.)

Maybe www.immigrant.ie will be of help?

/edit just noticed you're Irish. sorry for the basic information in this post.

Ruu_Old

Dont worry too much about it. My wife got a permit easily, if you want you can pm with your questions or have a look at oasis.gov.ie. The only thing the government are worried about giving your fiancee residency is if shes going to be a "burden" on the state. If you have joint accouts, credit cards whatever its a great help and they will be satisfied with that.

Willymuncher

Thanks a million for the information, and the site.

I guess you could say she wants a little holiday here beforehand, she also wanted to be here with me so we could sort this out together and with the employer in person. Proving that no other EU citizen is available for the job might be tricky...

Will it be possible to apply for an extended visa while she is here and sort things out from there onwards? or do they have to be sorted completely before she comes? We will be able to support ourselves, she has funds and I am working so I don't see that being a problem.

I've been told this, that and the other for the past few days and its really throwing me off, I don't know who to believe...

Ruu wrote:

Dont worry too much about it. My wife got a permit easily, if you want you can pm with your questions or have a look at oasis.gov.ie. The only thing the government are worried about giving your fiancee residency is if shes going to be a "burden" on the state. If you have joint accouts, credit cards whatever its a great help and they will be satisfied with that.

Thanks for that, much appreciated, well we will be able to support ourselves even if its just barely so I hope that won't be a problem. I've been hearing too much from people who have no experience of doing this and they were worrying the shíte out of me.

Ruu_Old

I think the way it works is, she comes over (allowed to stay 90 days). During that time, setup a meeting with the the immigration officer in your local garda station..normally the district headquarters has one. Tell them you want a residency permit for your fiancee and they will need some sort of proof that she wont be a burden. We had a joint bank account and our marriage certificate. A few weeks later she got her resident card and we went to social welfare office and got her PPS no. You will get that in the mail and then you are all set and ready to work afaik. I think they are a bit more strict giving out work permits and rightly so. When I lived in Ireland, in my job..the boss was trying to employ a heap of eastern europeans and the gov wouldnt give him the work permits. Yeah as Doleman said it, the US makes it next to impossible for Irish and others, so why should it work the other way Anyway anything else I can try and help. Thats just how it worked for me.

Willymuncher

Thanks for that, I guess it'll be a bit different since we're not married yet but hopefully gaining residency won't be too difficult.