Can My Wife Apply For Irish Passport

[scorpio]

hi, i am dual nationality with both uk and irish passport, we live in belfast which is part of uk ( not ireland) my wife came to belfast in 2007 under eea rules, she has a current valid 5 year residence stamp valid untill march 2013, she does not want to wait untill march 2013 to apply for uk passport and even then she may not get one, we have a baby 2.7 years old who has uk passport. What can my wife now do.? apply now for ILR, apply for irish passport? reason why she wants to move forward quickly is because she wants to return to stay in thailand for a year now, her father passed away last week and he was the sole carer of her 2 twin 11 year old sons so she misses them very much, she is currently out of work due to recession in uk, she was working for 4 YEARS,

Can anyone advise us on which way we can go from here pease, advice much appreciated. feel free to pm me also. Thanks

[Eff1n2ret]

She can not apply for ILR because she does not have "Leave to Remain" under the Immigration Rules, her status derives from EEA Regulations.

I am no expert on Irish nationality and immigration law, but a quick scan of internet info indicates that she can apply for Irish citizenship (and subsequently for a passport) after 3 years marriage to you and residence, even in Northern Ireland. However, you need someone to confirm whether her status as an EEA Residence Card holder would provide the necessary qualification. I suspect it would.

[7by7]

She can not apply for ILR because she does not have "Leave to Remain" under the Immigration Rules, her status derives from EEA Regulations.

To expand, if I may.

As you used your Irish nationality to obtain an EEA permit for her then she cannot now switch to the UK immigration rules.

This means that she has to be resident in the UK for 5 years before she can obtain permanent residence under the EEA rules and then have held PR for at least 12 months before she can apply for naturalisation as British. Making a total of at least 6 years residence in the UK before she can apply for British citizenship and a British passport. In addition, she must have been physically present in the UK on the exact date 5 years prior to applying for British citizenship and during the intervening five years have spent no more than 450 days in total out of the UK with no more than 90 days in the final year.

If she leaves the UK for an extended period, such as a year, then she will need to obtain a new entry clearance to return; either an EEA permit or a UK settlement visa. Be aware, though, that recent changes in the EEA regulations mean that dual Irish/British nationals who have always lived in the UK and never lived in the Republic are officially no longer able to use their Irish nationality to obtain EEA permits for their non EEA family members. The UK government are aware of this change in the regulations, but have yet to implement them.

Had she entered under the UK immigration rules then she could have obtained ILR after 2 years in the UK and, as the spouse of a British citizen, British citizenship after three years in the UK; so would now have a British passport and this would not be an issue.

Obviously being able to use your dual nationality to obtain a free EEA permit for her has a huge advantage over having to pay the UK visa and leave to remain fees; but there are disadvantages as well.

I do not know enough about Irish nationality laws to comment on that.