Returning to Ireland with Korean Wife

stephen82

Hello Everyone! First time poster and new to this forum.

I've been living here for 6 years and I've been married to my Korean wife for over 3 years now and I'm tentatively planning on returning to Ireland with her within the next year or two. I'll try to make my questions as clear as possible and hope you guys can help me!!

1. I registered the marriage at the embassy here in Korea but haven't done anything about getting it registered in Ireland. Would this be possible to do before moving there and would it be more beneficial? (In terms of speeding up the marriage visa for the wife)

2. I noticed that the required documents for a spousal visa includes work history docs...would they accept work history docs from Korea or only Ireland?

3. When I return to Ireland I plan on getting my H-Dip in Secondary Education, would being a student nullify my wife's chances of getting a spousal visa? (Will be returning with all the cash saved and was hoping this would counter the problem of support issues)

4. On the immigration website it says the process can take up to one year to complete. How long did it take you to get the visa for your spouse? (I'm hoping less than a year!!)

5. Were there any issues with your wife getting work after the spousal visa was issued?

Sorry about asking all these questions but I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out!!

Stephen82

ekevosu

stephen82 wrote: »

Hello Everyone! First time poster and new to this forum.

I've been living here for 6 years and I've been married to my Korean wife for over 3 years now and I'm tentatively planning on returning to Ireland with her within the next year or two. I'll try to make my questions as clear as possible and hope you guys can help me!!

1. I registered the marriage at the embassy here in Korea but haven't done anything about getting it registered in Ireland. Would this be possible to do before moving there and would it be more beneficial? (In terms of speeding up the marriage visa for the wife)

You don't have to get it registered in Ireland and I don't think it will speed up anything. The visa is quick enough for a spouse anyway. Make sure you have translated and apostilled in Korea copies of your marriage cert in English before you come over.

2. I noticed that the required documents for a spousal visa includes work history docs...would they accept work history docs from Korea or only Ireland?

My wife never had to show work history documents, unless this has changed in the last two years? If your spouse is moving to Ireland from Korea then they can't expect her to have Irish work history documents.

Email inissinu@justice.ie and they will give you the answers. What you need is passports, your work contract, marriage cert, proof of relationship (joint bills etc).

3. When I return to Ireland I plan on getting my H-Dip in Secondary Education, would being a student nullify my wife's chances of getting a spousal visa? (Will be returning with all the cash saved and was hoping this would counter the problem of support issues)

again I would talk to the department themselves. I'd imagine they would look for bank records maybe but I'm guessing in that case.

4. On the immigration website it says the process can take up to one year to complete. How long did it take you to get the visa for your spouse? (I'm hoping less than a year!!)

What visa are you applying for exactly? My wife has a stamp 4 visa valid for a year and renewed the following year and it allows her to work....It took an hour including queuing.

5. Were there any issues with your wife getting work after the spousal visa was issued?

Again this is the stamp no 4 she will be getting which will allow her to work here. I think maybe you have some wrong or old information?

Sorry about asking all these questions but I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out!!

Ask away, its important to be prepared for everything when planning such a big move. Good luck

Stephen82

see above...

Hobbes

Immigration laws recently changed. Being married to an Irish person no longer guarantees your entry/stay in Ireland. As I understand it you have to prove that they will not be a burden on the state for a certain number of years.

So unless someone has been through the process recently, what they suggest may be out of date.

Only thing I can tell you is that any official Korean documentation, you will need to get translated and notarised. We got ours notarised at the Korean Embassy.

Related details:

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP07000024

ekevosu

My information is from 2012 and renewed in 2013 so again maybe emailing immigration as they have a special department for spouses to deal with queries and better able to answer than us. Thats who I contacted before coming over. I also got a job before my wife came over so situation is slightly different.

If you are still in Korea then there are a lot of places around 광화문 where it can be translated and notarised...maybe Korean embassy, as Hobbes mentioned as a place to get it done, is cheaper?

stephen82

ekevosu wrote: »

see above...

Thanks for the info!! The process according to the immigration office can take up to 1 year to process the documents so I was surprised to hear that you managed to get it all done in one day!! It took two weeks to process my spousal visa so that I could work in Korea so I was expecting at least that long!! Are you sure that you can get the whole process completed in one day??

As for work history, I was talking about what documents I need to submit to show that I can support my wife. On the Immi site they mentioned work history over the past 3 years. My work history will be almost all Korea related so I was wondering if they would accept it?

Thanks!

stephen82

ekevosu wrote: »

My information is from 2012 and renewed in 2013 so again maybe emailing immigration as they have a special department for spouses to deal with queries and better able to answer than us. Thats who I contacted before coming over. I also got a job before my wife came over so situation is slightly different.

If you are still in Korea then there are a lot of places around 광화문 where it can be translated
and notarised...maybe Korean embassy, as
Hobbes mentioned as a place to get it done, is cheaper?

Cheers, I know about the place to get the documents translated since I needed to get some things translated when I got married in Korea. I'll email the immigration fellas in Ireland and see if there are any issues. I'll post here with the results!!

ekevosu

There are different rules for different groups of countries as well so be aware of that so maybe info is applying to a different country. My wife arrived in the country, told the guy at immigration she was coming to live. He stamped her passport and she was told to report to the immigration office to get a type 4 stamp and have it approved etc. We queued up in Dublin (long queues for students but shorter for non student visa's - go directly in and queue inside, before 9 preferably). I brought my work contract, marriage cert, previous house bills and our passports. They checked all this, my wife got some fingerprints, photo taken and a GNIB card was issued with a stamp 4 which is a spousal visa allowing you to work. I was in time for my first day at my new job. You renew it the following year.

Let us know how you get on, will be useful for anyone searching on the topic later on.

retalivity

ekevosu wrote: »

There are different rules for different groups of countries as well so be aware of that so maybe info is applying to a different country. My wife arrived in the country, told the guy at immigration she was coming to live. He stamped her passport and she was told to report to the immigration office to get a type 4 stamp and have it approved etc. We queued up in Dublin (long queues for students but shorter for non student visa's - go directly in and queue inside, before 9 preferably). I brought my work contract, marriage cert, previous house bills and our passports. They checked all this, my wife got some fingerprints, photo taken and a GNIB card was issued with a stamp 4 which is a spousal visa allowing you to work. I was in time for my first day at my new job. You renew it the following year.

Let us know how you get on, will be useful for anyone searching on the topic later on.

I went through this exact same process 2 months ago, although in donegal not dublin. was simple and fast. Didnt need any work details, just a letter adressed to our current address

smurfjed

You renew it the following year.

Is she allowed to leave the country in that year?

retalivity

smurfjed wrote: »

Is she allowed to leave the country in that year?

Well we're going to prague next week so I hope so!!

Yeah, holidays and the like are fine. If its over a certain period thought they may ask questions