I am UK born Irish bred spent time both sides the WAter living and working. Been here for 8 years exactly and neither of us would go back. You will get a lot of Irish saying how good it is in the UK, lots of Jobs, great roads wonderful heath service and education. The grass is always greener? If you balance out prices there isn't much to chose. Instead of paying £100 per month council tax, I pay €90 a year. Car insurance is about the same slightly cheaper here once you factor in the exchange rate. Car tax is WAy more expensive but fuel is cheaper s ...

Kim, Most rural communities, will have public schools. I'm not too sure what you mean by 'cottage school', sorry! Have you looked in to the school System in Ireland yet? Here's some info to get you started

Nikki, We did bring a few small US appliances and had no issues, however it's on a case by case basis. Check the label on the item, and see if it's rated for the Irish electric System. The info at this post should help

Good afternoon everyone! I WAnt to share my experience, and perhaps get some input from others, of the process of getting married to an Irish Citizen as a non-EU Citizen (in my case, I'm American). This is a lengthy post, and a lengthy process. So, here we go! Ireland requires a three month advance notification to your local Civil Service Registration office. This notice can be done online here: Civil Registration Service You put in your name, some other basic info, and choose a date/time in which you will meet the Registrar. When you make the appointment ...

EU countries can put more restrictions on their own citizens for family reunification. So for the UK my spouse and children are not UK citizens. I think one of the other forum participants said that Denmark WAs more restrictive for their non-EU spouse than any other EU country would be. Enda Kenny has stated border control would probably be needed. (was reported in several UK and Irish news sources after his comments at a recent GAA match in London). There is also a UK document on that as well -

@mairead the process is very different if you are Irish with an EU spouse, or if you are foreign, here on a temp visa. I'm Irish. On our first attempt to move, we got the visa same day in mullingar. This time, we applied on Longford and then moved. The gnib card WAs available within 10 weeks and WAs mailed to the Garda station. We had moved though and it took some months to get it mailed to our new location. It depends on the Garda station you use. Regarding health. Just visit a doctor. My wife uses the public doctor for €50 a pop, and they even referred h ...

... sit right on top of rivers, or near a WAtershed and there's usually a pretty even mix of businesses and residences. A lot of time these rivers are very high to begin with, so when there's a big storm like the one that just passed, there's only one place for the extra WAter to go. Also, a lot of the farmland that WAs affected is very low lying, so when a large river floods it spreads out pretty fast. I think the problem with one towns flood protection having a negative affect on another town is very likely. I remember seeing similar things in CA with coasta ...

... here, listen to those people and still love it, then theirs no question. Now we moved up to the most beautiful county, Donegal and are loving life. The free pre school, is brilliant and works perfectly well. And now under 6s get free gp health care. My employer also gives us free private insurance. Schools are also great here. We picked up and left because we were sick of planning. If you love Ireland, if Ireland is compatible with your situation and if the U.S Is not, then that's all there is to it. Maybe look at relocating somewhere cheap like Donegal fo ...

Hello, Your approval letter states if you can renew or not. Yes, it is a yearly verification by an Irish CA. For the renewal finances, I submitted Irish CA verified proof of my income, and cash in the amount of an Irish home but NOT my monthly expenses (as I did in the initial submission). You will need to send in a renewal request to the same office in Dublin - most folks have been doing this at least a month or more in advance of the expiration (this is in your approval letter). (also you need to show private health insurance, full copy of your passport, copy of your registration card) Then -- you will need to do the registration again. Where this depends on which county you live in. Dublin has an online System now. Other counties are probably still in person at the local garda (one has to check) Hope this helps.

@dorzak - that's not something I've encountered. My US wife had no issues opening two Irish accounts. However, you must disclose citizenship, which in turn is shared with the US System in some cases. Also, US citizens must report holdings of over $10k in foreign accounts. @seph - that's very useful info for people looking for a quick turnaround on opening a bank account. I'm sure it could speed things up by as many as 4-6 weeks. Thx!