Permission Granted

I must commend Ireland on how delightfully easy it is to come into this country, to work in this country, and to legally join my husband in this country.

We phoned last year, knowing the rigours of getting into the UK, and figured that Ireland was much the same, trying to get the low down on what we needed. The response was 'Just show up, show your passport and marriage certificate'. And I thought that they'd gotten something wrong, because how can moving to a first-world country be that easy!

But it was.

We arrived on 16 Feb 2019, and it was exactly that easy! We turned up, and showed our passports, and marriage certificate and had to answer why we were entering. To live here and explore Europe was a sufficient answer, and so they were satisfied.

I started on a tourist visa, and then was given three months to get my paper work in order.

[insert pic of tourist visa]

Getting an appointment was the tricky part. They issue a handful of appointments each week day at 10am, actually more like 10:07. The appointments are for 7 weeks in the future. So I finally managed to get an appointment confirmed on 26 Feb for today, after 10 days of trying and failing.

You can legally work once you have the appointment booked, and proof of the appointment is sufficient to act as a work permit until the appointment.

[insert screen shot of appt conf]

I will now get issued with a Irish Residency Permit, on a card much like a drivers licence, in the next couple of weeks, but I have a stamp in my passport that says I'm good for the next three years!

{insert pic of permit]

So pleased I do not have to deal with the appointments and bureaucracy again for three years or so.

Now to get internet at our flat.