UK EEA Family Permit from N. Ireland to Republic of Ireland?

[jichangu]

We plan to travel from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland by train - purpose is tourism. I am a Chinese citizens, holding a valid UK entry clearance (EEA family permit). My spouse is an EU citizen (German). I do not have this joint UK/Irish visa. The UK is entered at Heathrow for tourism purposes.

We are confused about the visa requirement for Ireland.
Apparently there is a Irish Short-stay Visa Waiver Programme in place, which could allow us to enter the Republic of Ireland without the need for an Irish Visa.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/visa-wai ... ct2016.pdf

The problem is that we do not know whether an EEA family permit is an eligible UK Visa that is covered by the Irish Short-stay Visa Waiver Programme.

What is even more confusing. There is (currently) no regular hard border with regular checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The document above states that the Irish border agent will need to stamp the passport at the port of entry. Where should we get that stamp?

We lodged a query to the Irish embassy in Germany:

I have a question regarding the the Irish Short-stay Visa Waiver Programme. Is an EEA Family Permit for the UK (UK entry clearance for 6 months) regarded as a so-called UK Short Term visa?

The Irish Embassy has been writing me the following statement:

Thank you for your email. A Non-EU citizen who is an ordinarily resident of the Schengen area or the UK requires a separate visa to travel to Ireland. In this case, the Non-EU citizen cannot avail of the visa waiver programme. For information on which nationalities require a visa to travel to Ireland, please visit http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/check-irish-visa

The answer by the Irish Embassy doesn't really address our question.
Does anyone of you knows more?
Does anyone

[dan1988uk]

I contacted the Irish embassy in London and they told me that with an EEA family permit the non EEA citizen requires a visa to enter Ireland, they also told me that if the non EEA citizen is a family member of an EEA citizen the visitor visa will be issued free of charge attaching the certificate of marriage to the application.
Entering the ROI from NI without a valid visa is a breach of the Common Travel Area.
If the non EEA citizen holds a residence card that states that he/she is a family member of an EEA citizen, he/she can travel without visa if accompanied by the EEA citizen.

[Richard W]

You can legally cross from the South to the North. You should also be able to cross from Great Britain to the Republic by ferry with your husband without a visa if you can prove you are married. (I presume you do not have an EU family member residence permit.)

[dan1988uk]

You can legally cross from the South to the North. You should also be able to cross from Great Britain to the Republic by ferry with your husband without a visa if you can prove you are married. (I presume you do not have an EU family member residence permit.)

It's the same old story: a non-EEA should be able to move all over EEA just with a marriage certificate but actually he/she can be detained at any border.

[Richard W]

[It's the same old story: a non-EEA should be able to move all over EEA just with a marriage certificate but actually he/she can be detained at any border.

I don't believe evidence of marriage is enough for a visa national to cross by land from the Republic to the North with the non-British EU spouse but without a visa or EEA residence card (or EEA family permit). Of course, in such a case, any detention is likely to happen miles from the border!

[dan1988uk]

Since there is no border checks between NI and RoI a visa national without a valid visa who is attempting to pass the border is breaching the Common Travel Area.