CalgaryStampeder

Hey everyone, I think we've decided rather than messing around with the UK Spouse Visa we're just going to return to family in Ireland. Now, I'm a British Citizen and my wife US, basically before we move we want to fly to the UK first to visit my grandparents for a couple of weeks and then go from the UK to Ireland where obviously we'll apply for her EU residency card, is this okay to do? It would basically be like going to the UK for a short holiday and then moving to Ireland after a week or two, it sounds a bit silly to ask because I'm sure there's no problem but I wanted to be 100% certain before actually making the move.

SanDiegogirl

As a Brit you can move to Ireland and take your family with you under EU treaty rights. So moving from the US direct to Ireland is OK.

Novocastrian

Absolutely. But the OP shouldn't buy a one way flight if entering the UK first. Why not fly to Dublin and then take the vacation in the Uk?

CalgaryStampeder

Thanks for the reply, I understand US to Ireland is fine due to me being an EU citizen, but I wasn't 100% sure if there would be an Issue flying from the UK to Ireland, I presume we'd just go through the Non-EU passport line and tell them of our intentions (I've gone through the non-EU line on visits before with no issue)

BritInParis

It would be better to fly from the US to the Republic of Ireland first to get an Irish rather than a UK entry stamp in your wife's passport as there are no immigration controls between the UK and the RoI.

CalgaryStampeder

Ah damn, that's what I figured and I suppose the Irish Immigration would need to see an Irish stamp when looking at my wife's passport when we register her for the residency card

BritInParis

Yep.

CalgaryStampeder

Now what about if we went from France to Ireland, I'm sure since this is outside the common travel area they would stamp my wife's passport once we arrived in Ireland?

BritInParis

Correct.

Novocastrian

What happened to the couple of weeks visiting grandparents in the UK? Do they have a home in France too? If not, just fly to Dublin, get the entry stamp there, then visit the UK.

CalgaryStampeder

No, I would literally just fly from the UK to France in order to get a stamp going into Dublin.

Novocastrian

Am I being mislead by your username? There are cheap flights on Westjet from YYC to DUB via YYZ offered at a one way fare of under $C500 (not until the end of April though). You can't use a one way if accompanied by your US spouse if you go to the UK first and then the Uk-France-Dublin leg would probably cost more than the one-stop to Dublin.

https://book.westjet.com/SSW2010/WSW...execution=e1s1