Immigration Difficulties for American Citizen

Willy Speareshake

Hey everyone!

I'm a 19 year old Irish national and am married to an American citizen. (I know, the age is kind of surprising but don't let it put you off!!) My husband is also 19 years old and he moved out to Co. Kerry to live with me and my family last December. Since then it has been nothing short of a nightmare to get him to get permanent residency here.

Got into Dublin airport in December, border control officer there put a landing stamp for 90 days in my husband's passport, gave him a GNIB registration number and told us to head down to see the Garda Immigration Officer since we live outside Dublin. Before coming back home to Ireland, we already had all the documents ready (as stipulated on the INIS website) to bring to the Garda Immigration Office.

We went there within 2 weeks of arrival. Immigration Officer was extremely rude/abrupt, she would barely even glance at me from her computer screen, not to mind my husband, and she only looked at our marriage certificate, NONE of our other documents. Told us to leave her office momentarily before calling us back in to tell us to send an application for permanent residence on the basis of marriage to an Irish national to the INIS. At the time, we didn't really question it because being both 19 it's sort of hard standing your ground against officials like that. So we sent it on and got back an acknowledgement letter in early January saying his application is currently being processed.

Since then it's become clear from online research that most people in our situation had gotten their GNIB card/Stamp 4 straight away when they visited the local Immigration Office. If they had all their documents approved by the Garda Immigration Officer, he/she registered the individual and they get their GNIB cards 2 weeks later in the post! Sort of ridiculous still waiting about 7 months later when our documents weren't even fully checked by the Garda Officer who could have given him the GNIB card stuff then and there! We have been emailing her and the INIS repeatedly about this, at the beginning the Garda Officer never admitted she could have made this process a whole lot easier but finally a few days ago she emails back saying that she had two choices and she chose the latter,i.e. us sending an application to the INIS. She won't tell us why she refused to give him a GNIB card from the get-go, perhaps it is because we are both 19 and she automatically thinks this is a sham marriage? I'd really hope this wasn't the case..

Not having a GNIB puts my husband's life ENTIRELY on a standstill here. He managed to get himself a PPS number so he can enrol in a college of further education so he won't be twiddling his thumbs for a year waiting for the GNIB card and he also passed his driving theory test (but unfortunately can't get a learner's permit without a GNIB card!!). He cannot even do the simplest of things here really.

So we got onto the INIS about a temporary GNIB card who told us they're only allocated for people in emergency situations, family death, illnesses, etc. We also got in touch with an organisation about a week ago called the Immigration Council of Ireland seeing if there was anything we could do. The guy confirmed our suspicions that we probably were being discriminated against by the Immigration Officer, and that my husband was entitled to a GNIB card from the beginning. But whatever, my husband's application is in the works now. But he also told us that there was a new policy introduced recently into the INIS whereby my husband could get a temporary GNIB card without having an emergency situation, but the INIS employee didn't seem to remember this new policy when we spoke to her recently!

Anyway, there seems to be so much miscommunication between the different departments here. It has been so difficult to even get the right information, everyone seems to be contradicting each other or saying it's the other department's responsibility.

At this point, we're considering heading into the local Limerick Immigration Office as my husband and I are moving there for third-level studies this September and will have a place of our own with a Limerick address. Is this a completely stupid idea? Can't tell if I'm just grasping at straws these days! Would just so very much appreciate some help/advice with anything, LITERALLY ANYTHING we could possibly do to take some hassle out of this situation.

I understand this is never an easy process anyway but I have a feeling it's a whole lot harder than it should be!

Thank you so so very much for taking your time reading this post if you got down this far!!

Time

Willy Speareshake wrote: »

Hey everyone!

I'm a 19 year old Irish national and am married to an American citizen. (I know, the age is kind of surprising but don't let it put you off!!) My husband is also 19 years old and he moved out to Co. Kerry to live with me and my family last December. Since then it has been nothing short of a nightmare to get him to get permanent residency here.

Got into Dublin airport in December, border control officer there put a landing stamp for 90 days in my husband's passport, gave him a GNIB registration number and told us to head down to see the Garda Immigration Officer since we live outside Dublin. Before coming back home to Ireland, we already had all the documents ready (as stipulated on the INIS website) to bring to the Garda Immigration Office.

We went there within 2 weeks of arrival. Immigration Officer was extremely rude/abrupt, she would barely even glance at me from her computer screen, not to mind my husband, and she only looked at our marriage certificate, NONE of our other documents. Told us to leave her office momentarily before calling us back in to tell us to send an application for permanent residence on the basis of marriage to an Irish national to the INIS. At the time, we didn't really question it because being both 19 it's sort of hard standing your ground against officials like that. So we sent it on and got back an acknowledgement letter in early January saying his application is currently being processed.

Since then it's become clear from online research that most people in our situation had gotten their GNIB card/Stamp 4 straight away when they visited the local Immigration Office. If they had all their documents approved by the Garda Immigration Officer, he/she registered the individual and they get their GNIB cards 2 weeks later in the post! Sort of ridiculous still waiting about 7 months later when our documents weren't even fully checked by the Garda Officer who could have given him the GNIB card stuff then and there! We have been emailing her and the INIS repeatedly about this, at the beginning the Garda Officer never admitted she could have made this process a whole lot easier but finally a few days ago she emails back saying that she had two choices and she chose the latter,i.e. us sending an application to the INIS. She won't tell us why she refused to give him a GNIB card from the get-go, perhaps it is because we are both 19 and she automatically thinks this is a sham marriage? I'd really hope this wasn't the case..

Not having a GNIB puts my husband's life ENTIRELY on a standstill here. He managed to get himself a PPS number so he can enrol in a college of further education so he won't be twiddling his thumbs for a year waiting for the GNIB card and he also passed his driving theory test (but unfortunately can't get a learner's permit without a GNIB card!!). He cannot even do the simplest of things here really.

So we got onto the INIS about a temporary GNIB card who told us they're only allocated for people in emergency situations, family death, illnesses, etc. We also got in touch with an organisation about a week ago called the Immigration Council of Ireland seeing if there was anything we could do. The guy confirmed our suspicions that we probably were being discriminated against by the Immigration Officer, and that my husband was entitled to a GNIB card from the beginning. But whatever, my husband's application is in the works now. But he also told us that there was a new policy introduced recently into the INIS whereby my husband could get a temporary GNIB card without having an emergency situation, but the INIS employee didn't seem to remember this new policy when we spoke to her recently!

Anyway, there seems to be so much miscommunication between the different departments here. It has been so difficult to even get the right information, everyone seems to be contradicting each other or saying it's the other department's responsibility.

At this point, we're considering heading into the local Limerick Immigration Office as my husband and I are moving there for third-level studies this September and will have a place of our own with a Limerick address. Is this a completely stupid idea? Can't tell if I'm just grasping at straws these days! Would just so very much appreciate some help/advice with anything, LITERALLY ANYTHING we could possibly do to take some hassle out of this situation.

I understand this is never an easy process anyway but I have a feeling it's a whole lot harder than it should be!

Thank you so so very much for taking your time reading this post if you got down this far!!

I can’t offer any advice beyond getting a solicitor who specializes in immigration involved. They should be able to get things moving and in the grand scheme of things it really shouldn’t end up costing all that much.

Good luck to you and your husband though. I hope you get this sorted

Carawaystick

I'd consider making an Access Request under Art. 15 of the GDPR

Willy Speareshake

Hey Time, thanks for your reply!

Actually very much strapped for cash these days and trying to save every cent we have. My husband has some medical issues associated with fibromyalgia so a lot of money being saved for going towards that. Unfortunately he can't work to pay for medical expenses due to lack of a GNIB card but he can't apply for a medical card also due to lack of a GNIB card!! Kind of a rock and a hard place situation right now.

So we've been looking at Free Legal Advice Centres in our county and are going to book an appointment to see a solicitor very soon. At least then we can get some basic legal advice/explanations about our situation first and ask them there to see if it would be worth our while to go to an official immigration solicitor.

Willy Speareshake

Hi Carawaystick, thank you also for replying!

We've just had a quick look at this article you referred to -- now excuse us not being very familiar to the law and the terms -- but not sure why exactly this article would be beneficial in our situation?
Possibly "the data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning him or her are being processed" or "the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority"?

Those sections seem to apply the most to our situation at the moment but perhaps you could help shed some light on this some more?

Cushie Butterfield

I don’t know whether or not you realise this, but your husband doesn’t have an automatic entitlement under Irish laws to live here.

Did he not have medical travel insurance, or was he banking on moving over & getting a medical card?

What about his plans to enroll for a third level course, as a US citizen wouldn’t be be liable for non-EU fees?

If you both intend moving to a different county & going third level how do you plan on paying rent, utilities & living expenses?

These are the sort of things that INIS are possibly trying to figure out. If it were you trying to move to the US these questions would certainly be asked by INS, as at first glance it looks as if your husband plans becoming a burden on the state straight away.

Sorry if this sounds negative, but unless you have offers of financial support from someone you’ll have to have answers prepared for questions like this.

Willy Speareshake

Hi Cushie, thank you also for posting!

Yes we very much do realise that he has no automatic entitlement to live here, just comparing our case to other people in the same situation.

He does have medical travel insurance with the States, some aspects not covered with fibromyalgia however because of the nature of the condition. We certainly never did bank on getting a medical card, it was only an option advised to us because of his frequent GP visits but we have been dealing with this for the last half year or more WITHOUT either. Please understand he is only trying to live here and move on with his life, and not bum off the state. I'm sorry if my previous statement seemed to imply that.

His plans of a third level course involves more evening classes for further education, we know all about the non-EU fees in universities. The only reason he enrolled for these courses is purely because he cannot work here for an indeterminable amount of time.

Very VERY luckily, both our kind families have generously offered to give financial support to us for the upcoming years (accommodation, education, etc.) until we can pay them back when we get settled with jobs. We understand how fortunate we are with this situation. In our application to the INIS, we clearly stated that this was the case with our financial situation until we get older, included bank statements, etc. from our family members supporting us fiscally and also written statements from them. Perhaps this is why the Immigration Officer at our local garda station told us to send an application to the INIS when we explained this to her but she did not check these documents we had so I hope you can see how it is frustrating.