I'm Irish, my In Laws are American. What is the process for them moving here?

Sairus

I'm Irish, my wife is American, but will soon have full Irish Citizenship.
We've been looking into her parents moving from the US to Ireland, but we've seen some conflicting information about how that whole process works.

Does anyone know where I can look for detailed info on where to start with that process, or have experience doing this?

krissovo

Sairus wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can look for detailed info on where to start with that process, or have experience doing this?

The current law in Ireland grants no rights to non EU citizens .

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/rights_of_residence_in_ireland/residence_rights_of_family_members.html

dennyk

Your wife's parents have no inherent right to reside in Ireland on the basis of your wife's citizenship here, nor yours.

If they are financially independent and have passive income (not from employment or business activity of any kind) of at least €50k a year each and a lump sum equal to the average cost of a house here (so at least six figures and change), they may be able to qualify to live here on a Stamp 0 permission as a person of independent means. This is a temporary renewable permission (if they continue to meet the financial and other requirements) and doesn't allow them to obtain long-term residence or citizenship, so it may not be a permanent solution should their situation change or should the rules about the permission ever change in the future.

If on the other hand they are 100% dependent on you and/or your wife for care and support and cannot possibly live apart from you (i.e. no other relatives in the US who could care for them, etc.), they may qualify as an elderly dependent relative (see Chapter 18 of this document).

If they are wealthy enough to have seven figures in cash (not from a loan) that they could invest in an Irish business or fund, or half a mil that they could give as an endowment to an Irish cause, they could look into the Immigrant Investor Programme.

If they have an innovative business idea (e.g. some fancy tech startup, not running a pub or a B&B or something) that could realise seven figures in sales and have ten or more full-time employees in Ireland within four years, and they have the necessary starting capital, they could look into the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme.

If they are still in the work force, they could look into finding a job here that qualifies for a work permit, ideally a Critical Skills permit (so that both could come over to live here right away if either one found a qualifying job; with a general work permit a spouse cannot join the permit holder for 12 months). If they are nearing retirement age, it might be rather difficult to find an employer willing to go through the long process of hiring them, however, unless they have extensive skills and experience in a high-demand role.

Sonrisa

dennyk wrote: »

Your wife's parents have no inherent right to reside in Ireland on the basis of your wife's citizenship here, nor yours.

If they are financially independent and have passive income (not from employment or business activity of any kind) of at least €50k a year each and a lump sum equal to the average cost of a house here (so at least six figures and change), they may be able to qualify to live here on a Stamp 0 permission as a person of independent means. This is a temporary renewable permission (if they continue to meet the financial and other requirements) and doesn't allow them to obtain long-term residence or citizenship, so it may not be a permanent solution should their situation change or should the rules about the permission ever change in the future.

If on the other hand they are 100% dependent on you and/or your wife for care and support and cannot possibly live apart from you (i.e. no other relatives in the US who could care for them, etc.), they may qualify as an elderly dependent relative (see Chapter 18 of this document).

If they are wealthy enough to have seven figures in cash (not from a loan) that they could invest in an Irish business or fund, or half a mil that they could give as an endowment to an Irish cause, they could look into the Immigrant Investor Programme.

If they have an innovative business idea (e.g. some fancy tech startup, not running a pub or a B&B or something) that could realise seven figures in sales and have ten or more full-time employees in Ireland within four years, and they have the necessary starting capital, they could look into the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme.

If they are still in the work force, they could look into finding a job here that qualifies for a work permit, ideally a Critical Skills permit (so that both could come over to live here right away if either one found a qualifying job; with a general work permit a spouse cannot join the permit holder for 12 months). If they are nearing retirement age, it might be rather difficult to find an employer willing to go through the long process of hiring them, however, unless they have extensive skills and experience in a high-demand role.

A good run down on how tough it is to bring an elderly parent to Ireland. From that policy document: "This is not to say that
there should be an absolute bar on all such applications but rather that
a highly restrictive approach should be taken. Ultimately emigration,
including that by Irish people, is undertaken with no legitimate
expectation of ever being joined by parents."

Sairus

Thanks so much for that rundown, and the links. That's super clear and lines up with what I researched.

I just had a lot of people telling me that all sounded wrong and was starting to doubt what I'd read.

Doesn't look promising for my In-Laws unfortunately