Moving to Co. Clare from the USA for 1 year

NCMattJ

Hi everyone! My wife is going to be doing one or two semesters at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan. We are planning to move to Co. Clare from North Carolina in the US for about 9 months to one year...maybe more if we really like it and can get permanent visas. We will not need employment as my wife will be living off of student loans and I will be working remotely from home for my current employer back in the states.

We will be leasing a car for the duration of our stay. She will be on a student visa and I will not need a visa. I figure I can stay for 6 months, head up to N. Ireland and get my passport stamped by the UK, then come back in to stay legal.

Here is the point of this post. Do any of you have any advice or suggestions about things I may have missed? I have been to Ireland three times, once for about six weeks and traveled the entire country. My wife has never been but has been doing tons of research. We are going to be visiting the area in February 2008 to check it out. Would you all recommend we live in Ballyvaughan or some other village close by? Does anyone know if Broadband is available in Ballyvaughan? How about cell phone coverage? Should I get a cell phone vs. having a home phone for our stay? (I will have a VoIP phone at home with a US number while I am there and I can call Ireland for free from it...but I will not be able to receive local calls obviously.)

By the way, we are pretty young, she is 29 and I am 31 so we would also like things to do on the weekends, etc.

Thanks to all! We may have to live in Ireland permanently if my country votes in another moronic Republican president! Hope you will have us!

Matt
Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Clareman

Hi Matt,

Firstly, it's Clare, not Clair

Cell phone coverage will be touch and go up there, because of the Burren and all the conservation that goes with it there aren't many masts around the place. Broadband should be ok, there's a few local companies that supply wireless broadband up there (don't have the information here, sorry), Broadband.gov.ie will give you an idea.

You shouldn't have any problem getting a visa, not 100% sure tho, but generally American citzens only have a formality to go through I believe. VoIP is definetly the way to go, communications costs here are way too high IMVHO.

You will definetly need a car, not sure how insurance would work out, you need to get insurance by law over here, you might also want to remember the value of the euro to the dollar if your getting paid in the States, in fact there might be some massive bank charges involved.

NCMattJ

Thanks for the info...and yeah, I noticed the Clair vs. Clare after I posted. Sorry 'bout that I changed it.

How fast is the wireless BB? I would rather have hard-line service like DSL or Cable. Will probably work better with my US VoIP and the Irish VoIP I would probably order. The wireless coverage is a concern too. Is it worth living in a larger town like Enis and driving to the college? It is way out in the middle of nowhere?

As for the car, I sure would not drive without insurance...dangerous...and I am expecting a bit of a hit there...but we are going to sell some land and both of our cars in the states to finance the move and setup in Ireland.

A visa would be nice...then I could work locally if I needed to. Thanks for the info there. I lost my passport in a move from one house to another so I am waiting what seems like an eternity for the State of North Carolina to get a copy of my birth certificate back to me so I can order a new one. After 9/11, doing ANYTHING with the US Department of State is a pain in the butt.

m_stan

The Vodafone coverage map states you'lll get GSM(GPRS) coverage in that area.

Your best bet for a cellphone would buy a cheap pre-pay phone. Dont make the mistake of going to Meteor - their coverage will likely be zero there. Although I dont have experience using Vodafone down there, it's probably workable. A few days in the area and you'll know from talking to the locals.

Clareman

Try leaving out the i and then your there

It is pretty much in the middle of nowwhere, but if you wanted to live in a metropolis you wouldn't be moving to Ireland now would you The college is about 30 minutes drive from Ennis (depending on how you drive of course).

There are some good wireless provoiders around, a friend of a friend (seriously) works for 1 company, I'll ask about it, I'm old school, I prefer wired, you'd generally get 2Mbit handy enough most places (I think).

Clareman

just checked for broadband up in the Ballyvaughan area, looks like Satellite is the only way to go (http://broadband.gov.ie)

Satellite (subject to survey)
Provider Website E-Mail Phone
Applied Solutions http://www.ADSLnow.ie ask@applied.ie 1890 924 854
Avonline http://www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk broadband@avonline.co.uk 0044 800 073 1102
Broadband Wherever http://www.broadbandwherever.net info@broadbandwherever.net 0044 800 068 3358
Cross Country Broadband Ltd http://www.crosscountrybroadband.com customerservice@crosscountrybroadband.com 05392 55428
Digiweb Satellite http://broadband.digiweb.ie sales@digiweb.ie 042 939 3300
e3 Broadband http://www.e3broadband.ie sales@e3broadband.ie 1850 303333
ehotspot http://www.ehotspot.ie info@ehotspot.ie 0044 1262 409109
Eircom Satellite http://www.eircom.ie directsales@eircom.net 1901
Fastnet Broadband Satellite http://www.fastnetbroadband.com info@fastnetbroadband.com 01 2303746
Media Satellite Ireland Ltd http://www.mediasat.ie [email]sales@mediasat.ie;info@mediasat.ie[/email] 1850 202 144
Orbitlink http://www.orbitlink.ie info@educom.ie 01 8601995
Pure Telecom Satellite http://www.puretelecom.ie info@puretelecom.ie 01 2895555

opelmanta

hi i know the area very very well. the phone coverage is pretty much perfect on o2, meteor and vodafone. If you are in the college you are definately better off living in ballyvaughan or near the village for sure. there are loads of places to rent there. the college will supply that. there is broadband in the area there but your best bet is to ask the locals (pub workers, shop workers etc) for info on that as its been a while since i was around!!
as for a car it would prob be way cheaper to buy a car. its not really in the middle of nowhere as you have everything you need to survive in the village!! the nearest big town is ennis - 30minute drive and the nearest city is galway 30 mins in the other direction.

NCMattJ

Yeah, I don't mind the small town life. I moved from my home town of Charlotte, North Carolina (about 2 million people) to get away from the traffic and pollution) but I will need wired broadband for my VoIP and to work from home...so I am thinking Galway or Ennis is going to be the better bet. I guess we will find out. We are coming to Clare in Feb. to check things out. We are planning one day in Galway, one day in Ennis and two days in Ballyvaughan.

Clareman wrote: »

Try leaving out the i and then your there

It is pretty much in the middle of nowwhere, but if you wanted to live in a metropolis you wouldn't be moving to Ireland now would you The college is about 30 minutes drive from Ennis (depending on how you drive of course).

There are some good wireless provoiders around, a friend of a friend (seriously) works for 1 company, I'll ask about it, I'm old school, I prefer wired, you'd generally get 2Mbit handy enough most places (I think).

NCMattJ

Thanks for the info! Do you know if there are any wired broadband providers in the area? Cable or DSL? What will be my best bet for television? Satellite through someone like Sky or is there cable in the area? Are the over-the-air television signals clear at all? I assume Ireland uses PAL like the UK? Or has Ireland made the switch to digital tuners yet?

opelmanta wrote: »

hi i know the area very very well. the phone coverage is pretty much perfect on o2, meteor and vodafone. If you are in the college you are definately better off living in ballyvaughan or near the village for sure. there are loads of places to rent there. the college will supply that. there is broadband in the area there but your best bet is to ask the locals (pub workers, shop workers etc) for info on that as its been a while since i was around!!
as for a car it would prob be way cheaper to buy a car. its not really in the middle of nowhere as you have everything you need to survive in the village!! the nearest big town is ennis - 30minute drive and the nearest city is galway 30 mins in the other direction.

opelmanta

NCMattJ wrote: »

Thanks for the info! Do you know if there are any wired broadband providers in the area? Cable or DSL? What will be my best bet for television? Satellite through someone like Sky or is there cable in the area? Are the over-the-air television signals clear at all? I assume Ireland uses PAL like the UK? Or has Ireland made the switch to digital tuners yet?

Haha!! digital tuners in Ireland!! no chance!!!
seriously though we dont have digital tuners and yes sky would be your best bet really. the broadband however is mainly wireless but i can try find out over the christmas if there is wired broadband there yet as i will be returning there for a short while. oh and yes it is PAL same as UK. please feel free to ask me anything on the area or PM me as i said i am very familiar with the area as i am localish to there originally

D-A-V-E

Limerick City is only 15 or so mins drive from ennis too if you have ever been there?

whatsgoinon

It's at least a 40 minute drive to ballyv from ennis, i did it last week, i wasn't crawling along either. The roads are chronic. I know a woman from the States that goes to the Burren College of Art. She bases herself in Corofin, which is about midway between ennis and ballv. closer to ennis though.

Wanders_fan

D-A-V-E wrote: »

Limerick City is only 15 or so mins drive from ennis too if you have ever been there?

yea if its 2am with traffic it can take an hour to actually get to the city but thats extreme.normally 30mins

Clareman

Coonagh (sp.) Roundabout to the first exit for Ennis could be done in 15 minutes easily, it's the other 5 miles you have to worry about unfortunetly

CptSternn

You don't have to go to the north to get your passport stamped. If you go to any immigration officer right before your visa expires and explain your situation (your wife going to school here) they will more than likely give you an extension stamp right there on the spot.

...if they don't, then go to the north.

cookiequeen

My husband is an american citizen and has earned residency here as I am an Irish citizen. Do not be mistaken about the strictness of the immigration officers in this country. You must have all your ducks in a row if you want to stay here for any length of time. I trust your wife will be getting a student visa and I suspect you will be applying for some sort of extended visitors visa as you will not be working in the state. Like the US a visitors visa is only 3 months

Please check with your local Irish embassy in the US or alternatively contact the department of justice here. They will tell you what you need to do. Please don't make the mistake of assuming it'll be a doddle, because believe me 6 years on it is far from it.

Having said that best of luck with the move. You'll love the burren, one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland