# US citizen w/ EU spouse looking to move to Ireland. Has anyone else been through this



## Inifus (Jun 19, 2017)

My wife and I are interested in relocating permanently to Ireland, and my wife is a French citizen, so we're researching the visa opportunities I have access to as the spouse of an EU citizen. I'm wondering if anyone else who has been through this could help clarify the visa options available to me?

I'm currently looking for work in Ireland (while still in the US), and we'd like to not have to move until I've received a job offer and have a financial anchor there to support us. We've read about the EU Treaty Rights visa process for a Stamp 4 visa.

According to this page (EU Treaty Rights), we'd be able to submit the application for it only after arriving in Ireland and legally establishing our residence (which itself would take at least a few weeks to gather the appropriate documentation), and we would then have to wait an additional ~12 weeks for me to receive temporary permission to start working while they then finish processing my application.

The issue with that is that, between giving notice at our current jobs, moving to and establishing residence in Ireland, and then the 12 weeks or so mentioned above, it looks like it would be ~4-5 months before I could actually start working from the acceptance of a job offer.

However, reading here (Registration of non-EEA nationals) under "How to apply" and here (Types of residence permission for non-EEA nationals) under "EU Treaty Rights", it makes it sound as if I'd be able to receive a 4 EU FAM Certificate of Registration almost immediately upon arrival in Ireland when I register at the local immigration registration office.

Specifically, in the first link, where it says:

"As soon as possible following your arrival in Ireland, you should go to your local immigration registration office to register"

Then the second link:

"When you register with your local registration office the Certificate of Registration that you receive will be a residence card with the wording 4 EU FAM"

And that second bit of text about the 4 EU FAM certificate actually contains a link leading to the page containing the first bit of text, so it seems to be saying that you would perform this registration during which you'd receive the 4 EU FAM certificate as soon as you can after arrival in Ireland, NOT after submitting the EU Treaty Rights visa application and waiting ~12 weeks to be given temporary permission.

This is a very important distinction for me because one interpretation would mean telling potential employers that I'd have to wait 4-5 months from the acceptance of a job offer to be able to start work, and the other interpretation would mean waiting closer to maybe a few weeks (which gives a much greater chance at finding an employer to hire me).

Would someone who is familiar with this process be able to clarify this for me?

Otherwise, does anyone know of anything else that can be done to minimize the amount of time I'd have to wait before I could start working? Another type of visa or registration process? Any other advice?

Thanks!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I'm not all that familiar with the rules in Ireland for obtaining a residence permit for the spouse of an EU national, but one big caveat to look out for - in many EU countries, the residence permit is contingent upon the EU spouse having a reason for "exercising their EU rights" in the move to an EU country other than their native country. 

France has been notoriously "sticky" about this - and I suspect they aren't the only country like this.

What it comes down to is that it's the EU spouse that has to have a "reason" for having moved - a job, study or retirement - and the rules for the non-EU spouse then are "simplified" so that the non-EU spouse can join them.

But perhaps someone here may have some experience with the situation in Ireland.
Cheers,
Bev


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