Bringing my foreign wife to stay in Ireland.

rockyVII

My partner and I have been together for 5 years and we will be getting married early next year. I have been living abroad for those 5 years and we would love to spend a year or longer in Ireland after our marriage. 
I had always assumed we would have to go through the rigorous "join family" visa application. Then I read this interesting Irish Times article from last year: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/how-can-i-bring-my-non-irish-partner-to-live-in-ireland-1.3086540
It says that my wife can simply come to Ireland on a tourist visa (or even without one!) and then go to the [font=Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif]Garda National Immigration Bureau and apply for permission to stay in Ireland there. [/font]
Does anyone have experience of this way of helping their spouse to stay Ireland? 
Which way would you advise? Applying for a long stay "join family" visa before coming to Ireland? Or applying once here? 
Any advice on websites, forums or government bodies that could offer more advice on this subject would be much appreciated too.

love_love

I'm sorry I don't have any advice but I'll be eagerly watching this thread, a close family member is in a similar situation.

veetwin

A lot depends on whether the non eu spouse is visa required or not. In the IT article it referred to an American spouse who could travel to Ireland visa free. To state that a visa required non eu spouse could travel to Ireland on a short stay tourist visa and then remain as a spouse of an Irish national would not strictly be allowed.

That said if the spouse of an Irish national were to apply for a "join spouse" visa and they could show there is a viable relationship they would get a visa relatively easily and would be given a permission to remain in Ireland assuming all documentation is in order.

veetwin

The INIS website covers it pretty comprehensively;

http://www.inis.gov.ie/

love_love

I don't wish to speak on behalf of the OP but when looking into the INIS website, the confusion (for my family situation) comes from the fact that the Irish half of the couple hasn't lived in Ireland in a number of years, and won't live in Ireland at the time of application.

Silas

It entirely depends on whether your spouse is from a visa required country. If she is from a visa required country she absolutely needs to apply for a long stay D Visa to be allowed enter the State. If granted a long stay D visa she enters the State on that visa and then goes to her local immigration office (Garda Station) or if residing in Dublin she books an appointment online to register at INIS office Burgh Quay Dublin 2 (with you present)

If she is from a non-visa required country then she travels to Ireland with you, informs the immigration officials at the airport that she is travelling to Ireland with her Irish citizen spouse and she will be issued with a entry stamp which will state that she is required to register at her local immigration office or at INIS Burgh Quay (same as above)

As the other posters have said, the INIS website will provide more detail

Silas

Also, if she is from a visa required country DO NOT consider applying for a short stay C visa and then trying to register her permission to remain beyond the 90 day short stay visa when she is in the State.