Spouse of an EEA citizen diary

[ryuzaki]

My wife is Chinese, I am a UK citizen moving to Ireland for work. She will be applying under EEA treaty rights to join me, initially on a visitor (type C) visa and then with EEA stamps for permanent residency building towards eventually citizenship.

I thought it would be helpful to keep a diary. I wish one had been available when I was considering this, to make the process clearer. I'll try to keep it updated.

June 2018 I accepted a job in Ireland. It's better paid than my UK job. Engineers are in demand. Company supplied me with a letter confirming employment starting in September.

I helped her fill in the online application form and submitted it. Took legal advice to check it and what other material to submit. Sent my documents to her in China (£83 for the shipping, there was a lot of paperwork).

Arrived today, this week she will go to the VFS immigration centre to submit it all.

The process is supposed to take a maximum of 4 weeks (legal requirement) but lawyer said it could be months, end up in the High Court etc. I hope not, living by myself for that long with disabilities will be hard.

Plan is to move to Ireland early next month. Advised to get all utility bills with her name on them too.

[ryuzaki]

22/08/2018 application form and supporting documentation submitted in China.

My understanding is that the clock is now ticking, with a legal maximum of 4 weeks to process the application. Legal advice was that it can take longer, with cases pending in the high court

[jul1]

if u make good money in uk u can invite her using the local immigration rules. Why is she not living with u already in UK?

U can try the Irish route too, u could be lucky, depending on what can u prove, living together, children, etc... in general from Asia the eu treaty rights visa is very bad at the moment in Ireland. My wife is from the Philippines, we stupidly waited about 6 months for the visa, that was in 2016, and had she not come to live with me in Hungary and apply for Irish visa from there we would be still waiting for that visa, that would be 2.5 years now.... if u apply from a European country that visa is 3 weeks, from Asia could be years... just saying....

The high court battle is still ongoing, some waiting for 3 years now.

Its your decision if u feel lucky enough to come here and wait...

[ryuzaki]

Please don't post such negative comments... This is stressfull enough as it is. I've taken legal advice on both the Irish/EEA and UK routes.

[CR001]

Please don't post such negative comments... This is stressfull enough as it is. I've taken legal advice on both the Irish/EEA and UK routes.

I don't believe it is negative from the poster. Rather it is the reality, given that many British citizens have and are trying to use Ireland for family joining and then returning to the UK, thereby trying to circumvent the tougher UK immigration rules. Ireland is well aware of this trend and all applications are scrutinised.

[ryuzaki]

I am aware of that, but that isn't my intention. My salary in Ireland is much better than I can get in the UK for doing the same job, and there is much more opportunity to own a home instead of renting forever. Ireland is our new home now and I made that clear in the application. It's not some little low paid McJob for six months, it's a well paid senior position at a long established company.

In any case, with Brexit coming there isn't time to try the UK route, even if I could afford it on UK salary. And really who wants to stay in the UK with that iceberg looming? I want to retain my EU membership by becoming an Irish citizen.

Some people do get reasonably quick decisions. Most of the problems seem to be in countries like Pakistan.

[CR001]

Oh well, was only pointing out the level of abuse of this route through Ireland (and the Irish authorities suspicions) and that applications are scrutinised.

Will leave others to comment or advise further but if you don't want people to comment about their 'negative' truthful experience, then perhaps posting on a public internet page might not be for you as you will get many 'negative' and 'my experience' comments. Isolating one particular country (or region) as 'the problem' is also discriminatory.

Good luck!!

[ryuzaki]

Perhaps you are right CR001. Can you please close/delete this thread. I thought it might be helpful to others but I don't really want a debate. Maybe when it's over I'll post a summary.

Thanks for wishing us good luck.

[CR001]

Post a new topic when you have the outcome detailing your experience to help others.

I will lock this topic now (we don't delete topics), so you will be able to refer back to it to copy the info if you wish to.

All the best and hopefully you do get a speedy result.

[adamson]

Can you please let me know what document you have submitted with the application please?
Wish you all the best it normally should take between 3 to 4 weeks,to get response that's what I have heard. Good luck with your application

[ryuzaki]

Please lock this thread. You can start your own if you have questions.