My husband got his Stamp 4 stamp in his passport on the first visit to the Garda station (Wicklow Town). They rang a couple of weeks later to come collect the card, but no more stamping needed. That was nearly two years ago; maybe the procedure has changed.
Hello All
This forum has been beyond helpful cannot thank you all enough for your useful information! So glad I stumbled upon it somehow.
Anyway I'm an Irish citizen and my wife is a US citizen and will be moving to Ireland soon! Flying in with her! What I wanted to ask was can anyone let me know exactly what they ask for when you arrive at the airport and head through Irish customs? Like what paperwork, if for proof of funds, photos etc. I know you're supposed to let them know the intention of wanting to stay and receive the stamp 4 so any info would be greatly appreciated. Want to be very prepared. Thanks a mill.
My understanding (just doing research for myself in advance of the same situation) is that you tell them at customs you intend to stay, but all of the residence approval stuff (with paperwork, proof of residence, etc) happens later - at the immigration office.
From what I can tell, you basically have to move there before they will officially approve you to move there.
Look forward to hearing what others have experienced...
Hi Charlene!
How did you get on with this? I suspect that your question relates to a similar issue I am currently researching too. If I understand correctly, yourself and your partner have EU rights in Malta, and are looking to move to Ireland with the same rights? if this is the case, Liam started a new thread on this, and I'd be happy if you could please share any tips on there.
Thaks
Martha
Hi everyone,
My husband and I will be moving to Ireland in a few weeks. We plan to stay at an Airbnb for a while until we get set up in Dublin. We have an appointment for INIS registration soon after we arrive. My question is: how can we show evidence of our joint address if we are staying at an Airbnb? Would a letter from the owner of the property stating that we are staying there for a month be enough? Or would we have to find permanent accommodation before attending the appointment?
Any help on this issue would be very much appreciated!
Hi everyone,
My american husband and I (I'm an Irish citizen) went down to GNIB a few months ago and we were turned away from getting his stamp 4 because they told us that we needed to complete the spouse of an irish national application form.
What I don't understand is from the website here:
http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/wp07000024
it states that
"If you are a non visa required national who has entered the State legally within the last 90 days or if you are a visa required national and you are within the period of permission to remain granted to you on arrival in the State (except short stay ‘c’ visas):, or if you have current permission to remain in the State on an alternative basis both you and your Irish national spouse/civil partner should attend at your local Garda National Immigration Bureau Registration office"
which fits his criteria so I don't understand why we had to fill out this application.
So we went back down to GNIB hoping that they made a mistake but they said that we were a "special" case as my husband was married before and said that was why we had to fill out the application.
So now we submitted the application and after a month we got a reply with a reference number and an estimated waiting time of 12 months to process our application.
Has anyone had any similar experiences to this, if so is the 12 month waiting time accurate?
It's pretty disappointing that we have to go through all this waiting when technically it seems we shouldn't have to.
Also, does anyone have any other information we should be made aware of that GNIB may not have mentioned on the website?
Kind regards,
Niall
Hey Niall @niall098
That's the first time in 4+ years of running this forum that I've heard a story like yours. If your marriage is legitimate, and you have everything in order that they require you to provide, then a 12 month waiting period sounds nuts! I have never come across a case where a previous marriage was an impediment, but maybe that's a technicality somewhere in the fine print.
Can you update us as you learn more? Wishing you the very best.
Liam
Hi Liam,
Another interesting thing to note on our first appointment was we actually nearly got the Stamp 4 visa. The lady at the counter wasn't sure how many years to give us so she went away to check but instead a different person came back to tell us that we needed to write a letter to the Justice department. We didn't know what she mean't. We didn't know what to write or why we had to write this letter exactly because we were already following the rules they placed on the INIS website. So anyway my husband and I left and read up more about what she wanted us to do - when we read about it in detail we clearly didn't fit the criteria to fill out this application; we should just be able to go down to GNIB with the necessary documentation and get the Stamp 4 since my husband is american.
We then proceeded to head back down to GNIB, we waited in line, got a different immigration officer again, he went away and then the same lady as before who told us we needed to write a letter came back to the booth saying the same things. I'll admit that we kind of lost our cool with her because at this point we feel that she is being slightly prejudice towards us as we are gay and have an age difference. We eventually gave up, filled out the application and posted it. We got a letter back a month later stating our application was received and that it will take 12 months to process. (We are in month 4 now).
A couple months pass and we send GNIB an email saying that my husband's Stamp 3 will be up soon and can we get an extension(we attached the letter from INIS showing our application number). My husband's mother lives in America, she's in her 90s and is getting sicker. His concern is that if we have to fly over for the funeral he may not be allowed back into Ireland with the expired visa.
GNIB emailed back and said to come down and that an immigration officer with make a judgment on the case there and then. When we went down; the immigration officer said he was sorry and that we would have to wait for the application to be processed. We also printed off the email response from GNIB to show him but he didn't care.
We walked away furious at this point. We should not have to wait for this application. It is costing us so much money since my husband cannot work. We have looked into moving to the states but that process would take even longer at this point.
I was honestly tempted to book another appointment and say nothing about that application and see if we get a nicer person at the booth. I feel like we just got 'unlucky' when we went the very first time.
Can anyone provide any ideas of what you think we could do to speed this along?
Kind regards,
Niall
Niall, @niall098
Thanks for your response. On your comment regarding prejudice, I suspected something like that too after reading your first post. I would sincerely hope that isn't the case, but unfortunately it wouldn't totally surprise me.
I wish I had better advice for you. Honestly, you are the first couple I've come in to contact with over the years who have had this difficulty. It's usually pretty straight forward when you go prepared and have everything you need. I have not heard of a 12 month wait before. You've probably seen that yourself from the other posters on here.
Have you considered an immigration attorney? I know it's more $$$ but a letter coming from someone like that might move it along quicker.
Keep us updated, and best wishes with it.
Niall
Just thinking...
how did he end up on a Stamp 3? Maybe going from one visa type to another is where the issue lies? I'll re-read some of the info here http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/registration-stamps