My Journey exercising my treaty rights in Dublin in order to obtain a UK EEA family permit for my husband who is Egyptian, I hope

this can help some of you. First step:

We applied online first for the entry visa, its a long stay (D) visa, you can do the online application here https://www.visas.inis.gov.ie/avats/OnlineHome.aspx (For questions where it asks for your address in Ireland or work ect just write (to be confirmed) You will then print it off and make an appointment with the Irish embassy in the country you in are, we got the visa within 9 days of applying. It is written on the visa EU treaty rights and its valid for 6 months) The only documents we gave to the Irish embassy in Cairo was our marriage certificate, the original in Arabic and translated into English, (we made photocopies of them and they ticked off that they had seen the original and then took the copies) my husbands passport with 2 passport photos and my passport with 1 copy. Again they took the copy of my passport and ticked that they had seen the original, they took my husbands passport. I wrote a short letter to accompany the application which went something like this: Dear Sir/Madam, I am applying as the Non EU spouse of an EEA citizen to accompany her when she moves to the Republic of Ireland to exercise her treaty rights by working in the state. According to the Directive 2004/38/EC there is no legal requirement that you should submit bank statements, payslips, letters from your employer, proof that you will return at the end of the trip, airline tickets or hotel bookings. The directive also states that the visa should be issued free and at an accelerated process. When I should receive visa myself and my wife will be travelling together to Dublin from Egypt.

Thats it ^^^^^^^ You do not need to submit any other evidence other than your marriage certificate and your passports. A few people have asked me if they can apply for their Non eu spouse to JOIN them when they are already in Ireland, I can not advise directly on this as its different to what we did but as far as Im aware yes you can..but I think in this case you will need to show evidence of where you live ect but dont quote me on that. I also dont know about childcare/schools here for those that have children and have asked me, as far as I know we are also not entitled to social welfare here unless you have been getting it in the UK and apply for it to be transferred over.

Other popular questions Ive been asked and I will answer here: 1. Where did you travel from? Myself and my husband flew out from Cairo Egypt to Dublin Via instabul. 2. Is it easy to find accomdation/job in Ireland? Yes and no, look on daft.ie for flats and try to get viewings arranged for the day after you arrive. For jobs search everywhere, shop windows, the internet, ask people. I am now in employment after 2 weeks of being here looking everyday almost all day. My husband is still looking for work though but there are jobs out here, I had several interviews. 3. Where is the best place to live? This depends on what your looking for, for us we wanted to be close to the city center so Dublin 3 is perfect for that. Flats in the city center tend to be expensive and not very good quality so if youre a little bit out you will probably get a better deal. I only searched for jobs that were within a short bus journey to where we are living (I take a 30 minute bus journey to work now)

Ok so. At Dublin airport your non EU spouse can que with you in the EU que, they will try to tell you different, just explain that they are here because of EU treaty rights and are allowed to que with you, the que is tiny by the way..well it was for us. We came without booking any hotel or b&b which was a mistake as we spent 5 hours on the internet in Dublin Airport trying to find somewhere that wasnt fully booked (we arrived on st patricks day)again a mistake. We found a hotel close to the Airport and stayed there 4 nights, in those 4 nights we had 4 viewings until we found a flat we wanted. We are renting in a fully furnished 1 bedroom flat a 10-15 minute walk from the city centre (Dublin 3) for 675euros per month. Water is free here and there is a system for the waste that you have to pay for every bag you put out. Some landlords will have this charge included in your rental price, others like our not. Its around 2euros per black bag and you will buy a sticker from your local newsagents/shop. You could be naughty like us and avoid these charges by taking bag by bag to a community rubbish bin but try not to get caught. Our electric is by a card meter system and is quite expensive due to the heating. We try not to have it on much as it eats the money so fast. After we had found somewhere to live and had our rental contract we went to the city Centre to apply for a PPS number. The office is located on Kings Inn Street, you can ask anybody for directions and they will know. We took our marriage certificate in English and Arabic, rental agreement and our passports. Try to go early, we arrived around 12 and didnt get seen until 3. You will first go to the reception, they will ask to see your

documents then will issue you with a number to wait in the que. When you go to the desk when your number is called you will fill in an application form (both you and your partner) and have a photo taken. We went back the next day to get our PPS numbers and the letter and card was sent to us within 6 days. After we had received our PPS number we went to the Bank of Ireland and opened a joint account. They asked for our passports and a letter that had been sent to our address (we used the letter that had been sent with our PPS card). We were given the account number and sort code on the same day and are expecting our cards to be sent out by post this week, around 1-2 weeks after opening the account. As soon as we had opened the account we set up the internet in our flat (vital for job searching). Carphone warehouse have a good deal with the leading internet company called UPC. Its 25 euros for the first 6 months with a 50mb broadband, after its 45 euros per month. They wanted our tenancy agreement and a copy of our passports (they copy everything in store so no need to take photocopies with you). They sent somebody out 2 days after to install it in our house.

Jobs
From day 1 of arriving we had both been searching for jobs, we used the Wifi in our hotel to apply online, good websites are jobs.ie, indeed.ie and gumtree.ie. I applied for anything and everything I could. Only 30% of jobs are advertised online here, the majority in shop windows/restaurants ect If you looking for that kind of thing so go around the city centre and look in all the windows. Its pointless handing out cvs unless they have a staff wanted sign outside. We also gave our CVs to some recruitment agencies in a street called Graffton Street in the city centre but havent heard anything back from them but its worth doing. After exactly 2 weeks of being in Ireland I have now found employment thank god. Prior to getting this job I had 3 interviews, the first one invited me to a test date in which I didnt get the job, the second one said I didnt have enough experience and the third offered me a the job to start in May which is too far away. I didnt have an interview for the job Im in now, after receiving my CV they offered me a trial (that seems to be the way here, without getting paid) and then they offered me the job after seeing how I work. I have been given a form called 12A by my employer to fill in to be sure I wont get emergency taxed and I am waiting to be given a contract so that we can apply for my husbands residence visa using the form EU1I will update when we have done it.

Some useful information about Dublin

-The city centre is Dublin 1 and 2, its pretty easy to get around it. There are a few large shopping centres and many high-street shops. Primark is called Penneys we got some things for our flat from Penneys like duvets/sheets ect for quite cheap.

-You will lose weightLots of places in Dublin are easy to get to by walking, we havent stopped walking since we arrived and Ive lost more than half a stone in 2 weeks. -Buses: Public transport is quite good here, if you are going to be using the bus lots of time in 1 day go into a newsagents or the spa or any shop like this and buy a 1 day travel card, its 6.90 euros, it has a barcode on the back which you use when you get on the bus by scanning it on the machine. You can also for 25 euros buy a 5 days pass which you do not need to use on consecutive days. Theres also a 30 day pass for 120 euros, again it doesnt have to be used on consecutive days. Theres a tram called the LUAS, I havent needed to use it yet so Im not sure about prices ect. The train is called the Dart. You can find bus times and routes here dublinbus.ie Use daft.ie when looking for flats Dublin 3 (where we live) and Dublin 7 are cheap places to live and both are within walking distance to the city centre. Dublin 6, 8, 9 and close as well but you will need to take a bus. Dublin 15 is a nice area but its around 30-40 minutes on a bus to the city centre. Sorry I cannot advise on other areas as the ones Ive stated are the ones we have been in.

Thats all I can think of for nowHope I have helped all the best M. and M.