A plug for Irish Immigration

Well, as much as I whine about life in Ireland, I do really love it here. The whines are really only about some quirks, not about the overall place, people, or quality of life.

But I must put in a positive note for the Irish immigration service, known as GNIB.

So, when we decided to move here, as I have an EU passport it was really easy. Catherine doesn't and in most countries that involves a huge amount of preparation, advance form-filling and months of waiting. But not Ireland. No advance paperwork needed, just turn up at your point of entry, and as long as one of the couple has an EU passport you both get to stay. Sort of a 'we'll deal with it when you get here' kind of attitude. There are a series of registration steps that involve a few trips to the dreaded GNIB office in Burgh Quay (it smells of farts), but nothing too onerous. In fact it's all a bit quaint....some of the forms you have to fill in are 5th generation photocopies and of course finding the right information is a bit of a nightmare.

We passed the final hurdle for Catherine this week, when they approved her right to live in Ireland for the next 5 years.

US immigration could take note of this ease of access for legitimate spouses. Just imagine turning up at the US border with your foreign spouse and announcing you're 'here to stay'. Yeah, right. But, in Ireland the response was, 'oh, that's grand, I'm sure you'll like it here'!