Seems very difficult to move back home with my non-EU gf - advice?

speedboatchase

Looking for advice here or personal any responses from people who have had a similar experience.

There is a possibility that my gf and I could have job offers in Ireland in the future, and we were planning on moving at the same time and living together. I'm an Irish citizen living abroad for the past three years and she's a non-EU citizen living outside of Ireland. We both have journalism experience and the jobs - if offers came to pass - would be for two different sites of the same company. I have professional experience at the company prior to moving away from Ireland (three years ago, where I met my gf) and she had an internship at the other site last year (she graduated this summer).

We're both keen to move, the company seems keen, and everything seemed rosey until we came across the page for the General Employment Permit for my gf (http://www.djei.ie/labour/workpermits/generalep.htm), and the Labour Market Needs Test (http://www.djei.ie/labour/workpermits/labourmarketneedstest.htm). Here are the stumbling blocks:

1. It is unlikely that a company would pay a non-EU journalism graduate at least 30k per year. Has anyone any experience of this happening, or experience of a similar media role where a permit was granted on less than 30k?
2. The Labour Market Test requirements sound insane - the job, which has only been advertised online, would require the employer to advertise it on the Department of Social Protection Employment Services/EURES employment network for two weeks, in a national newspaper for three days, and on a jobs website for 3 days. The employer would also have to pay 1500eur. Has anyone's employer jumped through all these hoops in the past? How did it turn out?
3. How long does it take to hear the results of the test and the final decision, and how likely or unlikely might it be granted for a journalism role? Does anyone have any experience?

My gf and I are starting to feel a bit trapped where we are, as the idea of returning to a previous employer at first seemed like the most convenient option. If anyone has any similar experience of such a scenario please let me know.

bisounours

Have you spoken to your company? For large corporations that are well known to Immigration, it is a simple enough process as your HR dept will have experience dealing with the necessary paperwork.

If the company is unwilling to do down that route (and unfortunately, work permits are sponsored by the company and therefore individuals are unable to go though all those hoops themselves to satisfy the requirements) are you/GF in a position to look into further education? We have non EU graduates on our graduate programme which allows them to work one year following their graduation. That said, I'm not sure what happens to them after that one year (I recently joined the company myself)

Another possibility, but I have no details on it, is a "partner visa" or something similar. I know two (unmarried) couples that have sponsored their partners here. I believe an interview and evidence of the relationship is required (movie Green Card comes to mind) and the sponsored partner is unable to work for a certain time (a year?) but after that it's just a trip down to the GNIB office every year.

speedboatchase

bisounours wrote: »

Have you spoken to your company? For large corporations that are well known to Immigration, it is a simple enough process as your HR dept will have experience dealing with the necessary paperwork.

If the company is unwilling to do down that route (and unfortunately, work permits are sponsored by the company and therefore individuals are unable to go though all those hoops themselves to satisfy the requirements) are you/GF in a position to look into further education? We have non EU graduates on our graduate programme which allows them to work one year following their graduation. That said, I'm not sure what happens to them after that one year (I recently joined the company myself)

Another possibility, but I have no details on it, is a "partner visa" or something similar. I know two (unmarried) couples that have sponsored their partners here. I believe an interview and evidence of the relationship is required (movie Green Card comes to mind) and the sponsored partner is unable to work for a certain time (a year?) but after that it's just a trip down to the GNIB office every year.

Hi bisounours, thanks for the response. Neither of us have spoken to the company yet but on the next occasion that we do, we'll have to raise these complications. The company isn't particularly large (probably 30-40 employees) and I think that most, if not all, of the employees are Irish. So they most likely won't have experience of such a scenario but perhaps some of their HR staff might.

As for the partner visa possibility, I'll start Googling and find out a bit more about that and could help me out. Regarding the further education option, I think that could be quite expensive for my gf if we went down that route and I don't think the necessary funds would be available. Thanks again.

Jim2007

Well this is the same situation all over the EU and EEA countries, priority is given to EU/EEA citizens. And there are lots of rules to ensure that there is no labour dumping. As a third country citizen unless you have some very special skills that are high demand there is no way to say with any certainty what your chances are.

What I can tell you is that a company can follow all the rules and still get turned down based on Eurostats showing that there are plenty of individuals seeking such positions else where in the EU and the company is just not offering enough to attract them.

Although I don't know much about it, there is a general provision for bringing your dependents to the EU provided you can support them financially. But this does not automatically include the right to work. Still it might be worth looking at.

Mrs OBumble

Would you consider just getting married? For Ireland, at least, that solves a lot of immigration problems.

speedboatchase

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Would you consider just getting married? For Ireland, at least, that solves a lot of immigration problems.

I wouldn't be delighted about having to do it (and likely keep it secret for years from family and friends) but I would be pragmatic in the end. However, my girlfriend does not want to marry for legal reasons whatsoever.

Jim2007

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Would you consider just getting married? For Ireland, at least, that solves a lot of immigration problems.

This would ensure a right to reside, but not necessarily the right to work unfortunately...