suchafunkymonkey

I have a few questions, but here is some background.

My wife is from Dublin and we have decided to move from Newcastle to Kildare/Carlow. She was born in Ireland, worked in Ireland and has an Irish passport. She moved to Newcastle when she was 19 and has a UK driving licence & NI number. I was born in Newcastle and have a UK passport & driving licence. We were married in Ireland and have an Irish marriage certificate. We're selling up and moving in with the mother-in-law and building a house in or around Carlow/Kildare and I plan to work around Dublin (IT based job).

I don't need a work permit, but I'll need the equivalent NI number to work. Should I get this as soon as I get a job offer or before?

I intend on bringing my car over which is 5 years old and I have owned it for 4 years. My insurance covers me in Ireland for short periods. Should I re-register it in Ireland or use it to return to the UK and keep paying UK tax & insurance?

As my car is 5 years old, it will need replacing soon . I plan on buying a new or nearly new car. I can get it much cheaper from the UK as my brother-in-law is a car dealer. How would people recommend I do this to avoid paying a fortune? Can I register the car in the UK and keep paying uk tax & insurance and not bother ever registering it in Ireland?

Thanks for any help.

Horus

I've recently moved over here too so most of this is from recent experience, but may not be exactley right!

Apply for one as soon as you can - but first of all you need some proof of address for living over here - utilty bills would be good but as you're living with your in-laws they'll be in their names. So bank statements are your best bet. Change your address as soon as you get over or just in advance, then you have that for when you get here. You'll need your passport too. Your NI number over here is called a PPI number, you need to go to an office and fill in a form, your local Social Welfare Office should be able to tell you where to go. After you've filled in your form you'll get your number in the post - mine took about 3 days to get to me. Nothing to stop you applying for jobs before you get it though

I've re-registered mine, took about a month for the paperwork to come through and now I have a shiney new Irish number. My advice would be to register it over here. then you can get the insurance and tax etc without trouble. I thought about leaving it registered and tax and insured in the UK but then when I looked into changing the address on the cars registration I found that DVLA will only yet you register it to UK addresses. You would have to keep taking it back to get it MOT'd to get your road tax and you may have problems with your insurance of you need to make a claim - they may ask for proof of how long you had been in the country.

If you're staying in Ireland for less than 12 months then you don't need to register your car over here, but reading your post it sounds lie this move is going to be for a long time.

OK, this all depends on when you're movig over.

If you buy a car over here it's expensive (as you know). There's also a tax that you pay on new cars over here, VRT (i think, i'd had my car for 18 months so didn't have to pay it or I could have been looking at over €2000 :curse. As you've had your car for 4 years you won't have to pay VRT on it if you import it. But once you've imported it you can't sell it for 12 months or you have to pay the VRT on it. If you buy a new car in the UK now and import it and you've had it for less than 6 months you'll have to pay VRT on it. So if you plan on moving over in more than 6 months buy it now!

This is my understanding of how it works over here, hope this has helped a bit. If you have anymore questions please post away - I'm sure someone here will be able to help or put me right where I've gone wrong.

Good luck!

suchafunkymonkey

Thanks for the advice.
I think i'll be opening a new account with AIB or similar and keep my existing UK accounts running so I still have some form of existance in the UK.
I don't think I'll bother re-registering my existing car, but I will be buying a new one as soon as I get a job. I might register it in the UK and drive on uk insurance for about 8 months and then change it over. I know it's a bit naughty, but its a lot of extra to fork out for something you already own and have paid for. Then again, I might just buy it in Ireland and save myself the hassle.

JAJ

Has she thought about obtaining her British citizenship before she leaves the United Kingdom, assuming she's not done so already?

Shivster

Purely out of interest, why would you bother with it?

My official citizenship is Irish as is my mother's. I was actually born in England but have always had an Irish passport and here in the US on all my immigration papers my nationality is listed as Irish. My mother has never bothered with British citizenship despite having lived in England for 40 years.

My father was born in Canada, moved to England when he was about 10 to go to boarding school and never left. Only recently did he obtain a British passport but never naturalised. Not a clue how that one worked.

JAJ

You are, nevertheless, also a British citizen.

Why? Because as an Irish citizen in the United Kingdom, you are never more than a welcome foreigner. Not the same as being a full member of the community, even though it may not be noticeable day to day.

There are also some practical issues, like not being able to have a British passport and unable to hold policy/management positions in the Civil Service.

And if the plan is to leave the United Kingdom at some stage, being a British citizen is the safest protection against changes to the immigration rules. Not likely anytime soon, but in 20 or 30 years - who knows? A lot of New Zealanders who lived in Australia in the past (without becoming Australian citizens) have been affected by recent changes to Australia's immigration laws.


Was his father (ie, your paternal grandfather) born or naturalised in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man?

In that case, your father was automatically a British citizen by descent.

Presumably you also have confirmed your own Canadian citizenship by descent?

Shivster

My dad had me registered as a Canadian born abroad when I was born in 1967. I applied for and got my Canadian passport / nationality a few years ago. Neither of his parents were English but his mother was Irish. He only got the Brit passport as mum was sick of him holding her up at LHR.

Isn't it true that with my mum she could only ever be a subject and not a Brit citizen?

The whole commonwealth, Irish thing confuses the hell out of me.

JAJ

Bear in mind that any children you have born in the U.S. will be Canadian citizens by descent, but will have to develop ties with Canada and successfully apply for retention by age 28 (as they are second generation born overseas). Otherwise they lose Canadian citizenship at age 28, unless rules change meanwhile.

They will also be U.S. citizens by birth, British citizens by descent and eligible for registration as Irish citizens.

He must have applied to the Home Office for a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen. No other way if his parents weren't British.

Bear in mind that prior to 2004, Canadians who became British citizens did not have to take any oath of allegiance to the Queen. The process was therefore quite simple.

Hopefully he didn't become a UK citizen before 15 February 1977 - in that case, he would have lost his Canadian citizenship automatically.

No, that's not true. People born in the Republic of Ireland before 1949 can claim British subject status. However, it is entirely open to them to become British citizens by registration, if eligible (with 5 or more years UK residence).

Irish citizens, whether British subjects or not, are also eligible to apply for naturalisation.

The British subject passport isn't recommended as it's not eligible for visa free travel to the U.S., Canada or Australia (Electronic Travel Authority).

If your mother is interested in becoming a British citizen, then the place to start is: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/applying/nationality/

If she was born before 1949, then the cheapest way would be for her to reclaim her British subject status and then apply for registration as a British citizen.

The alternative is to apply directly for naturalisation. How old is she?

Shivster

That's what she had! I remember that because she had to get a B2 at one point. She would never naturalise on political / personal moral grounds. She now travels on her Irish passport.

Dad only got his Brit passport around 2001. He's 75 and mum is 70.

JAJ

Based on what you say, she is a British subject still, even if she did not renew her British passport. She's therefore eligible for registration as a British citizen (simpler process compared to naturalisation):
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/app...ance/guidebota

Obviously it's up to her as to whether or not she wants to upgrade her British status or not.

If his own mother was born in the Republic of Ireland then he can get an Irish passport as well, any time he likes.

suchafunkymonkey

This has gone a bit off-topic....

She hasn't registered as a British Citizen and I can't see why she would need to. She's Irish and has an Irish Passport with her married name on it.

You can travel freely between the UK and Ireland without any form of ID let alone a passport.

Another question. What is the rate of conversion for salaries? E.g. if I were earning £40k stg here, what would that be in Euros to maintain the same standard of living given differences in prices, VAT, mortgage rates etc? I've looked on the web but things seem a bit out of date.

JAJ

It used to be the case that New Zealanders didn't need a passport to go to Australia. Things change over time.

Once again. If she chooses not to become a British citizen then she has absolutely no protection if the United Kingdom decides to tighten its immigration laws. Are you so confident this won't happen over the next 30 years?

suchafunkymonkey

For that to happen Northern Ireland would have to be returned to the ROI, all the british citizens in NI would have to leave and the UK would have to leave the EU and close its borders to all free travel.

Never going to happen.

JAJ

Why????

Under such a scenario the border with Northern Ireland would become no different to the Canada/US border.


Clearly the current situation regarding free movement of people in the EU would be different in such a scenario. "Never going to happen"? You are very confident about the future.

A future oil crisis, a serious terrorist attack in Britain, or a fracture of the Euro-zone (something many serious analysts believe is quite possible) could fundamentally alter the whole EU free movement of labour situation.

Incidentally, it would of course still be possible to visit the United Kingdom (so no "closing of borders" etc), but it would mean that non-British citizens would not be able to live there without meeting immigration requirements.

suchafunkymonkey

And when that happens I'll use my winnings from the 17-time lottery rollover and buy my own country.