Hi, Without reading through everything above can I assure that there is no problem making friends in Rural Ireland, provided you move in with an open friendly attitude yourself. Within a couple of weeks of moving into our cottage we were invited to Communion/Confirmations, Birthday parties, Barbies and a Station. We attended a couple of functions at the school although our kids are grown and back in the UK anyway but the school is our closest neighbour so it made sense to go and offer Support.. I know there are folk who have moved in and not been made as welcome but then they are hardly ever seen out and about other than passing cars on the lane.

This is Steve here, Mairead's husband. I have now been in Ireland about a year and a half. The renewal of the Residency status WAs about as easy as it WAs getting the Stamp 4 in the first place, except this time it WAs at the Dundalk Garda station, which is very big and busy, rather than the small and relatively quiet one in Wicklow Town. So it WAs difficult getting an appointment with the immigration officer at the station. There WAs a snafu, where the appointment time WAs not recorded and conveyed to the right person. But after 3 visits and some WAiting in ...

... this fee includes all meals throughout the day - breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and light tea. The fact that food is included is a huge cost-savings. The one in Wicklow that I contacted is less expensive. The cost for both boys to attend Full-time would be 600 a month, including food. The cost difference here probably has a lot to do with it being in a small town (Tinahely), compared to the two in Clonmel. Either WAy, not bad considering we are paying around $1,500/month for Full-time daycare in Maine.

Hello! This is an important thread. I cringe at the challenges of bringing beloved pets into Dublin. What I am reading online is NOT encouraging. I have two 15-year-old cats, 100% indoors, good health, friendly, homebody cats. Melvin & Priscilla. I am thinking of flying them in cabin from CA > NY, then spend a couple of days in a pet-friendly hotel. I believe that United, Delta, and some other airlines will accommodate that as long as the cats fit under the seat, etc., and don't cause any fuss. Next challenge is to get them across the Atlantic to Dublin. I have figured out a couple of options, and I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. 1) Call the airlines and see what their policies are. Aer Lingus, Delta seem to be options, but it seems that TSA recently (July 2021) eliminated emotional Support status and is only assuring that seeing eye dogs and other pets trained for disabled owners will be allowed in the cabin. 2) Go to a travel agent and make all arrangements through the agent. 3) Maybe try NY > Amsterdam or other city that is close to Dublin for in-cabin, then short (hour) flight for cats in cargo. Give kitties calmatives so that they don't die of fright in the cargo. 4) Take the Queen Mary II . . . cats won't stay in rooms but they won't have the risks associated with air pressure, pitch dark/scary, etc. associated with cargo for five hours. Passengers may visit with their pets during certain hours of the day so that pets know that their humans haven't abandoned them to cargo. Queen Mary II will arrive in England, then maybe take cats on ferry to Dublin or else very short trip in cargo. Queen Mary II is not budget-friendly travel. Their cat sitter will fly with us. She will take one cat; I will take the other. I will have their vet complete paperwork about immunizations, etc., 10 days prior to arrival and take paperwork to USDA for certification. As soon as we arrive, I will take cats to IE vet for EU paperwork. Cats will have their EU Pet Passports ASAP. Am I missing anything????? THANK YOU for suggestions. Pat

... I are separated at the moment) with a soon to be four year old daughter. My story is a bit complicated but long story short, my estranged wife cannot come here to the states due to immigration laws and I cannot go back to any of the Schengen countries (working on getting that resolved) My estranged wife is German and lives in Germany. Has for the past 5/6 years, with me living in the states. During this time, we tried to resolve issues of bringing her back over here and me going back over there. Still a battle as you can see. During that time, we took vaca ...

Thanks for the thorough response. I have heard that unofficially, applications can be sent from overseas. This is in fact one of the new rules that were published in 2016 but still not finalized. I have also heard that rules can be bent for those with political connections in Ireland and the US but I have no direct evidence of this. I do know that there were many non-EEA people living in Ireland illegally who were grandfathered when the current rules were created. These people may have met the previous requirements but not the new requirements and were adjudicated on a case by case basis. Some were deported but some were allowed to stay. Seems completely reasonable to let people stay who to no fault of their own no longer meet the requirements. Things could be much more difficult for some if these new rules published in Sept. 2016 are finalized. These rules lower the financial thresholds slightly but also add quotas, age restrictions and what they call proof of a "connection to Ireland" which they don't explain but may mean a guarantor. I know that many people Support the E3 visa proposal but may not know how it could hurt their chances to immigrate to Ireland as a retiree under Stamp 0. The details of Irish concessions in exchange for changes to E3 are for some reason keep quite secret.

Hi, I am an Irish citizen and my fiance is malaysian, we are marrying this year, however I WAnt to return to live in Ireland to be with my sick mother. I have some questions about him obtaining a stamp 4 visa. I have seen that the application process can take up to 12 months, is the processing time shorter if you are already married, and because i am an Irish citizen? Is there some kind of benefit payment he can receive until he is entitled to work or do i need to Support him for 12 months and prove i can? Is there any faster options so we can ge ...

Laura. Hi. I have spent a lot of time looking at the Stamp 0 issue and agree that much is vague, perhaps deliberately so as I think INIS prefers to look at Stamp 0 applications on a case-by-case basis. Please note that emails sent to INIS Unit 2 have reportedly taken 2-3 months to receive a response. In addition to the income requirement of €50,000 per person, please know that there is also a net worth requirement of approx. €150,000. Also, if you apply for a Stamp 0 and wish to use your US company income to Support the €50,000 requirement, please know that I have heard that internet-related income may not qualify. Please be careful in describing this income with INIS. More importantly, please read this draft policy statement issued by INIS in Sept. 2016 but never finalized. It includes a number of changes to existing policy - for better or worse - and may eventually become the final rules in the foreseeable future.

... even being a citizen - it is all residency. My son is in high school, and we are thinking of moving back so that he has residency for college purposes. You need to be legally resident for 3 of the past 5 years in Ireland. (Or Europe) Even getting married for residency is tricky - they may WAnt you to show that you have the financial resources to not be dependent on the state -- this goes for US or Ireland. When we applied for my husband's green card, they WAnted my last 3 years tax returns and required that it WAs something like 150% of the poverty line? I ...

We have some old Verizon phones and current ones as well but the sim card is completely blocked. This is an over simplification, but when the FCC WAs auctioning off some bandwidth for LTE, Google threatened to come in and outbid everybody if there WAsn't some guarantee that the devices using those frequencies be unlocked. It is possible the Verizon devices are already unlocked for the SIM slot if they Support LTE