How do EU Treaty Rights work?

[LookingForInfoIE]

Hi there,

I'm looking for information on how EU Treaty Rights work please.

I am an Irish national, interested in bringing my wife (non-eu, visa required) to Ireland as soon as possible.

Can I ask please what are the rules of the Treaty Rights?

If I move to let's say Netherlands and bring my wife with me, do I have to be employed by a Netherlands company or can I keep my job from Ireland and work remotely in Netherlands?

Also, can I ask who is capable of applying for EU treaty rights? If my wife has family in Netherlands (aunt and cousins) can they apply for her to come to Netherlands under Treaty Rights or is it only immediately family like husband/wife who can apply?

Appreciate any information

[meself2]

If my wife has family in Netherlands (aunt and cousins) can they apply for her to come to Netherlands under Treaty Rights or is it only immediately family like husband/wife who can apply?

Husband/wife, children, parents. See https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/r ... dex_en.htm .

If I move to let's say Netherlands and bring my wife with me, do I have to be employed by a Netherlands company or can I keep my job from Ireland and work remotely in Netherlands

This I am not sure of; I would assume you would need under a local company's entity/be on their payroll, but don't know for certain.

[littlerr]

You do not need to be working for a Dutch company. It doesn't really matter. You pay tax based on your residency. The only difference is whether you are considered an employee or self-employed.

If you live in the Netherlands and work for an Irish company remotely (and this Irish company does not have any presence in the Netherlands for tax purposes), you are considered self-employed. Your tax bands and social benefits would be different from an employee living in the Netherlands and working for a Dutch company.

This does not affect your eligibility of applying for EUTR for your non-EU family members. Just select the correct category in the EUTR application. In fact you can even have no work whatsoever, as long as you can prove you have sufficient funds to cover both yourself and your non-EU family.

[LookingForInfoIE]

You do not need to be working for a Dutch company. It doesn't really matter. You pay tax based on your residency. The only difference is whether you are considered an employee or self-employed.

If you live in the Netherlands and work for an Irish company remotely (and this Irish company does not have any presence in the Netherlands for tax purposes), you are considered self-employed. Your tax bands and social benefits would be different from an employee living in the Netherlands and working for a Dutch company.

This does not affect your eligibility of applying for EUTR for your non-EU family members. Just select the correct category in the EUTR application. In fact you can even have no work whatsoever, as long as you can prove you have sufficient funds to cover both yourself and your non-EU family.

Thank you so much for the very detailed response, I really appreciate it!

So for example if I stay with my Irish company and only stay in Netherlands for less than the the 180 days, I can keep working for my Irish company and pay Irish taxes?

If I was to register as self-employed, and keep working for my Irish company, I would basically be taxed twice? Or could I then claim tax back from Ireland if I could prove residency in Netherlands?

Will my Irish salary be enough for proof of income for my wife to join me or would they only accept proof of income after I pay taxes in Netherlands?

Also, would I have to move to Netherlands first for a period of time, before my wife joins me? Or can we both go there at the same time?

My company does have a Netherlands office, but I'm not sure how open they are to transfers, so I would have to ask and see what is possible.

Sorry for all of the questions! Thank you for your help!

[littlerr]

I’m not a tax expert, but the bottom line is there is no double tax among EU countries. You pay tax in either your ordinary residence or domicile residence, not both.

For the first 180 days, (I think) you basically get to choose whether you want to pay Irish tax or Dutch tax.

After that, you would have to pay Dutch tax.

If you are an employee, you are most likely on PAYE which means the estimated tax amount would have been deducted in your salary, so you don’t need to worry too much about a discrepancy in tax at the end of the year.

If you are self employed, you are essentially issuing an invoice to your company every month, very much like how a builder/electrician/plumber works. The company basically becomes your customer, and pays you the full invoiced amount. You then need to make sure you keep a bit of money away untouched for tax purposes, and file your tax return at the end of the year.

Either way, you will have no problem showing proof of employment - a company headed letter, a salary slip, an employment contract, bank statements where your salary goes in every month etc - all of them count.

As part of EU Treaty Rights, an EU citizen can live in another EU country for up to 3 months without any reason whatsoever. You can apply for your non-EU family member’s EUTR application and do not need to submit any proof of employment etc (although it is recommended in most cases, they cannot refuse your application solely based on the fact that you have not submitted any proof of employment.

It also comes down to the nationality of your non-EU family. If they are from a non-visa required country, they would be able to fly into the EU right away and submit their EUTR application there; if they are from a visa-required country, they would need to submit an entry visa application first so they get permission to fly into the country.

Once they are in the country, submitting the EUTR application and getting a temporary permission should be straightforward enough (especially if it’s within your first 3 months whereby no proof of employment is required). You may be asked to produce proof of employment / salary slips / bank statements after that period.

You do not need to be in that country for the purpose of an entry visa application, but you do need to be in the country and have basic stuff set up (proof of address/tenancy) to file an EUTR application.