Put the 'I' in Ireland

May 21, 2007 6:42 AM

Is there any way for an American to live in Dublin other than a work permit, marriage, or student visa?

My Irish SO will be returning to Ireland to fulfill a contract for at least the next 18-24 months, and we would like to live together in Dublin, but I am having difficulty finding a legal way to reside in Dublin as an American. Please Hive Mind: can any Dubliners or other folk give me clues as to how an American can live in Ireland? Right now, it seems like my only three options are:
1) Get married
2) Get job offer with work permit
3) Become a full-time student in Ireland, and get study visa

Is it possible to get some common law/ domestic partner status? Having my own income is not a major issue (unpaid internship-visa?) but it would be nice. I have applied for many jobs, but the work visa thing seems to be a major deterrent for midlevel positions. Are there any industries that would love to hire an American in their field? I am not eligible for BUNAC or similar programs to my knowledge because I am not a student and haven't been for over 24 months.

Other info for what it's worth since I'll be posting this anonymously: We have been together and lived together for a long time, but we have no plans for marriage within the next 18 months, and doing it now for visa reasons would be undesirable. I have work experience in print and electronic media (video but not much web development) and also sports/recreation instruction. Ideally, I'd move to Dublin in September this year, and plan on staying 24 months +. Again, my SO has an Irish passport, and I have a US passport. And no, without any forged family history documents I won't be claiming Irish heritage any time soon.

Any suggestions, stories, testimonials would be very helpful, esp. if you've gone through the same thing.

posted by anonymous to work & money (7 comments total)

According to this document, non EEA national who can prove a de facto relationship of > 4 years can apply for their stay extended. More info is probably available here. Hope this helps
posted by TwoWordReview at 7:05 AM on May 21, 2007

Certainly the three options you presented are the best ways of getting over here. I would imagine that trying to do it the way you discuss here would be very difficult.
posted by chuckdarwin at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2007

I have friends who did something similar, except swapping Ireland for France, and the easiest course of action was to just get married. It really simplified a lot of their going-abroad-for-2-years hassles.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:45 AM on May 21, 2007

a few thoughts:

- i know the UK has "shortage occupations" where the usual work permit regulations (proving the post can't be filled by an EU applicant) are set aside and posts are filled directly. in ireland i think it's called the "green card scheme". have you checked to see if you qualify for any of these? (usually they're stuff like social work, healthcare occupations, etc. but you never know)

- unfortunately it doesn't look like ireland has unmarried partner visas the way the uk does

- you can qualify for BUNAC pretty easily (there's no age limit) with a few evening community college classes (that's what i did). but that'd only give you 6 months, i believe
posted by wayward vagabond at 9:41 AM on May 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Ancestry? If either of your parents or any of your grandparents were born in a European Community country, you may be able to get citizenship via them, and entry to Ireland via being an EC national.
posted by zadcat at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2007

the document that twowordreview linked to above looked like your best bet anonymous, however further rooting about is making me think twice on this - The government maintained website here makes no mention of de-facto partners being entitled to resident visas.

Also - the article here explicitly states that this is not possible, but i'm not sure how authoritative that site is. It does have some decent links at the bottom of the article where you can request more information.

I'm sorry i cant be more help - the govt. website i linked to above also has a link in its sidebar where you can ask questions - i'm not sure how prompt they are in replying though.

Best of luck with it.
posted by kev23f at 2:30 PM on May 21, 2007

My gut says that the document TwoWordReview links above deals with relationships established within Ireland, but call your local Irish consulate, or the one on Park Ave in NYC, and ask for someone in the visa office - they will be able to clarify for you, or basically answer the question you're asking here.

(Beyond by-the-book recitation of the rules don't expect much help from the Consulate. I'm a native Irish citizen whose spouse needs to go thru an eight week visa application process every. single. time. he goes home with me. In theory they could issue us a multiple-entry visa, but they don't).
posted by jamesonandwater at 7:36 PM on May 21, 2007