EU Treaty Rights in Ireland

In addition to being able to move to any EU/EEA country, citizens of EU/EEA countries can bring their families with them. That means that if you are an EU/EEA citizen, your family members might be able to come to Ireland to join you even if they are not EU/EEA nationals themselves.

They need to apply for a residence card as a family member of an EEA nationals to have a right to reside there, however. If their application is approved, they will receive permission to live in Ireland for up to 5 years. During this period they will have the right to work, study, and do business in Ireland.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to use a residence card issued in another EU/EEA country to get the right to reside in Ireland. Family members joining their EU/EEA relatives living in Ireland need to obtain a residence card issued by Irish authorities.

To be able to apply for a residence card as a family member of an EU/EEA national, your relative has to be either a qualifying family member of an EEA national or a permitted family member of an EEA national.

To be considered a permitted family member of an EEA national, your loved one has to be:

• Your de-facto partner
• Your dependent or family member who requires long-term personal care because of illness or disability
• A member of the household in your country of origin.

For your permitted family member to be able to apply for a residence card, you have to be exercising your EU Treaty Rights in Ireland and you have to be employed, self-employed, or be living in Ireland with enough funds to support yourself and your family.

To apply for a residence card, permitted family members have to complete Form EUTR1A.

If you are an EU/EEA national, your non-EEA family members have the right to apply for residency in Ireland through EU Treaty Rights. After they come to Ireland, however, they have to obtain a residence card. To apply for it, they have to complete Form EUTR1 or Form EUTR1A, depending on whether they are your qualifying or permitted family member.

In addition to that, if they are coming from a visa-required country, they need to apply for an entry visa to Ireland. If they arrive in Ireland without a valid visa, they will be refused entry. Get in touch with our lawyers and they will explain to you in detail which Irish visa your family member should apply for.

As part of the application process for the Irish residence card, your family member has to submit extensive evidence confirming their relationship to you. Moreover, you, as a EU/EEA national, have to submit documents that prove that you are exercising your free movement rights in Ireland and that you are living there.

After your non-EEA family member joins you in Ireland, they will have to register with immigration to receive permission to stay in the country for longer than 3 months. When they successfully register, they will receive a certificate confirming that they obtained their Irish Residence Permit.

After your family member comes to Ireland to join you through EU Treaty Rights, they will have 90 days from their arrival to register at an immigration office. Make sure to check their landing stamp that they received at the border, however, as sometimes the period for them to do the registration might be shorter. If so, the landing stamp will indicate how much time they have to register. Unfortunately, it is not possible for them to register before they arrive in the country.

If your family member’s registration is successful, they will receive permission to reside in the country and they will be issued an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) that proves their right to live in Ireland. The Irish Residence Permit has the form of a plastic card the size of a credit card. After they complete the registration, their IRP will be sent to them by post. They have to carry it with them at all time.

The fee for obtaining the Irish Residence Permit is €300.

If you and your family member will be living in Dublin, they can register at Burgh Quay Registration Office. In other parts of Ireland, they have to make an appointment at a local immigration registration office or at the local Garda District Headquarters. Typically they can book their appointment online. Another way to schedule an appointment is to call or email the local registration office.

De facto partners of EU/EEA nationals qualify as permitted family members and so they can apply for residency in Ireland through EU Treaty Rights. To apply for it, they have to complete and submit Form EU1A. To be able to do it, however, both them and you have to meet a number of eligibility requirements. These include:

• You have been in a relationship for at least two years
• You have been living together for at least two years
• You intend to stay together after your partner comes to Ireland
• You intend to live together as a couple permanently
• You and your partner are not related by blood
• You and your partner are in a genuine and pre-existing relationship
• Any previous marriages or civil partnerships that you or your partner were involved in have been terminated.

As part of the application process for your de facto partner to join you in Ireland, they have to submit documents that prove that your relationship is genuine. If you hire one of our lawyers, they can determine whether you and your partner meet the eligibility requirements and, if so, they can help you gather evidence necessary to prove it.

If your family member wants to join you in Ireland through EU Treaty Rights and apply for residency permission, they need to pay a fee of €300 to cover the cost of getting the Irish Residence Permit.

The fee can be waived if one of the following applies to their situation:

• They are living in Ireland with refugee status
• They have subsidiary protection status in Ireland
They have been granted leave to remain under Section 49 of the International Protection Act 2015
• They are younger than 18 years of age
• They are married to an Irish citizen
• They are a family member of an EU citizen.

If you are an EU/EEA citizen, you have the right to move to Ireland to live and work there freely thanks to EU Treaty Rights. That means that you do not have to hold a job offer to be able to move to Ireland. You can arrive first and look for employment once you are in Ireland. As an EU/EEA citizen you can work in Ireland without any restrictions and you do not need an employment permit or a visa to do it.

Moreover, if you receive unemployment benefits in your home country, you might be able to transfer them and receive payments in Ireland for up to 3, or sometimes even 6, months. On top of that, you might be entitled to Jobseeker Allowance in Ireland if you meet the eligibility requirements. If you are not sure what criteria you have to meet and whether you qualify, talk to our immigration lawyers. They will assess your circumstances and will help you find answers to all your questions.

The waiting time for decisions regarding residence card applications can vary depending on complexity of each case. The EU Treaty Rights Division receives many applications so it can take up to 6 months for a decision on your residence card to be made. Once the division reviews your application and all the documents you provided, they will send you a letter by post.

Applications are processed in chronological order from the date they are received. It is not possible to prioritise a specific case.

While your application is being processed, you can send an email to the EU Treaty Rights Division to ask for an update. In your email you have to include your Application ID number and your Person ID number. Alternatively, if you have not yet received these numbers, you have to provide personal details such as your name, address, and date of birth. You also have to give the name of your EEA family member living in Ireland and the date you submitted your residence card application.

If the person you are bringing to Ireland through EU Treaty Rights is a qualifying family member and they have submitted the required documents, they might receive temporary permission to reside in Ireland. If that is the case, they will receive an immigration stamp in their passport indicating that they have the right to be in Ireland while their application is being processed.

Permitted family members might also receive temporary permission if their application to be treated as a permitted family member has been assessed by the Minister who confirmed that they qualify for this category. If they receive temporary permission, it will be valid while their residence card application is being processed. Nevertheless, if they fail to provide sufficient documents with their application, they might not receive the permission.

When your family member is in Ireland with temporary permission while their application is under consideration, they can travel overseas as long as these are brief absences. Short trips will not have an effect on their application. If your family member needs to go on an extended period of travel, however, they should inform EU Treaty Rights Division about the duration and the purpose of the trip. If the division believes that the journey can have an impact on their application, they will let them know.

If your EU Treaty Rights application is rejected, you can apply for review of the decision to reject your application. To do it, you have to complete Form EU4 and submit it within 15 working days of receiving the letter stating that your application has been unsuccessful.

In addition to the form, you can include new or updated documents that might make your case stronger. Nevertheless, you do not have to submit the documents that you previously provided again.

To maximise the chances of your application having a positive outcome, you should hire an immigration lawyer. They can help you make sure that your case is as strong as possible right from the start. They can also help you gather all the documents that are necessary to prove that you meet all the requirements.

Your immigration lawyer can also come up with a solution if you received a visa refusal letter. Make sure you consult them before you submit the request to have the decision reviewed.

EU Treaty Rights grant EU/EEA citizens the right to travel freely between EU/EEA member states, without having to obtain visas or meet any entry requirements. EU Treaty Rights are afforded to all EU/EEA citizens regardless of which member country they are from.

If you are an EU/EEA national and you travel to Ireland, it is unlikely that you will be denied entry. This could only happen in exceptional circumstances such as:

• You have been found to be carrying a contagious disease that could pose a threat to Irish society
• You have been found a threat to national security based on your past convictions
• You are not in possession of a valid passport or national id card that proves your EU/EEA nationality.

An immigration officer should inform you about the reason for the entry refusal in writing. If you got denied entry to Ireland, call our lawyers. They can explain to you what your options are and can help you make a decision regarding what to do next.