Process for bringing my American Wife to Ireland?

LeamD

Hello all,

I am an Irish citizen, born and raised, aren't I lucky?!

I recently (after a long - long distance relationship with multiple visits back and forth, writing letters, skyping, etc) got engaged to quite a beautiful young American lady.

Now, eventually I will likely join her in the united states, but for a while (who knows how long?) it would be amazing if she could come here, I have a lot of people I want her to meet etc. Also, we have a beautiful country, I want to show it off some more (and see some more of it before I eventually do leave)

All in all, we have a long experience of Ireland ahead of us before we think about going to the USA permanently.

For now, does ANYONE here know the process of how I might legally get her a visa here? to live and work? I mean, being married to her must mean something down the line?

I would like to hear from some legal savvy people, and possibly somebody who has been through this process?

Sorry for the long post! I tried googling this, but all I could find was the process for going the other way! which is no good to us for a few more years yet.

Thanks in advance!

Pat Mustard

1. Work & travel visas
Details: https://www.dfa.ie/travel/visas/working-holiday-visas/
Apply to: https://www.dfa.ie/travel/visas/us-ireland-visa-arrangements/

2. Work & Travel visas for students/recent graduates
https://www.dfa.ie/travel/visas/us-ireland-visa-arrangements/

Also maybe try somewhere like the Travel forum.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=37

Pro Hoc Vice

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

Rules have recently changed with minimum income requirements. It's a comples area best advice go to a good immigration solicitor.

Dandelion6

You can't pre-apply to bring her here, since she is a non-visa required national. She'll just need to come here and tell Garda Immigration at the airport that she has married an Irish national. It's best if you are entering the country together. Have your marriage certificate to hand. Garda Immigration will give her a 90-day stamp and tell her to attend with you at her local GNIB office to apply for residency. Bring the documents listed on the link Infosys has provided.

There is no automatic right to residency as the spouse of an Irish national. However, for USA nationals it's generally a very straightforward process, provided she has no adverse immigration history in Ireland. In my opinion you do not need to pay for a solicitor unless there are any complicating factors.

Pat Mustard

LeamD wrote: »

I recently (after a long - long distance relationship with multiple visits back and forth, writing letters, skyping, etc) got engaged to quite a beautiful young American lady.

...

I mean, being married to her must mean something down the line?

I interpreted this as the OP having got engaged but not yet having married.

The thread title does refer to the wife though.

You might clarify this, OP.

retalivity

Dandelion6 wrote: »

You can't pre-apply to bring her here, since she is a non-visa required national. She'll just need to come here and tell Garda Immigration at the airport that she has married an Irish national. It's best if you are entering the country together. Have your marriage certificate to hand. Garda Immigration will give her a 90-day stamp and tell her to attend with you at her local GNIB office to apply for residency. Bring the documents listed on the link Infosys has provided.

There is no automatic right to residency as the spouse of an Irish national. However, for USA nationals it's generally a very straightforward process, provided she has no adverse immigration history in Ireland. In my opinion you do not need to pay for a solicitor unless there are any complicating factors.

I've gone through the exact same process in the past 4 months for my wife (Not American, but a non-visa required national), and it is exactly as stated above. She arrived on her own and immigration at the airport was straightforward and quick. Applying for residency at the local GNIB office took half an hr and she was free to work pretty much immediately after that.

As I understand it, if you are not already married, then it is not this simple and the timeframe is months rather than minutes

LeamD

Hey all, sorry for the late response.

By Wife, I meant we were planning on getting married here upon her arrival?

Is the process much more complicated if we want to do that?

Pro Hoc Vice

LeamD wrote: »

Hey all, sorry for the late response.

By Wife, I meant we were planning on getting married here upon her arrival?

Is the process much more complicated if we want to do that?

Well you will have to give 3 months notice to get married in Ireland your intended as a non visa required national will only get a 90 day visa.

Dandelion6

Once you've given notice of intention to marry, you can chance your arm going back to Garda Immigration and asking them to extend the stamp for long enough to allow the marriage to take place. Technically they are not really supposed to do this but it does happen. She can also leave the country and re-enter, showing the evidence that notice has been given, and get a new stamp. This is kind of a grey area as there is supposed to be a rule of thumb that a person has to be out of the country for at least 90 days before getting a new 90 day stamp. But in practice this rule seems to be very inconsistently applied, at least to US citizens.

username123

Not only do you need 3 months notice of intention to marry but generally the registry offices are back logged with a list of people looking for this appointment so you could have a more realistic wait of 6 months.

You'd be better off getting married somewhere with less onerous marriage requirements and then arriving married to Ireland.