Your non-EU family as an EU citizen

The short answer

• Who: the non-EU family of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who lives in Ireland and is working, self-employed, studying or living on their own means.
• How: come to Ireland (with a free visa if needed), then apply on ISD’s portal on Form EUTR 1 (spouse, children, dependent parents) or EUTR 1A (unmarried partner, other relatives).
• When: within 3 months of arriving. ISD has up to 6 months to decide, and they can stay meanwhile.
• Then: Stamp 4 EU FAM for up to 5 years: work or run a business like an Irish citizen.
• Later: permanent residence after 5 years.

Plan your application

Who counts as family

A de facto partnership means living together in a durable relationship for a substantial time, intending to stay together, not related by blood, and neither of you in another relationship. For permitted family, ISD first decides whether to treat them as your family, so the evidence of the relationship matters most.

Each family member applies separately, children included.

What the EU citizen must be doing

After the first 3 months, the EU citizen has to be using their free movement rights here:

• working or self-employed;
• studying, with comprehensive health insurance for the family (qualifying family only);
• living on their own means, with comprehensive health insurance and enough money not to rely on social assistance;
• out of work involuntarily after more than a year’s work, and registered as a jobseeker.

Step by step

1. Travel to Ireland. If your family member’s nationality needs a visa, they apply for an Irish visa: it’s free, and the law says it should be processed quickly. A valid residence card from another EU country lets them travel without one.
2. Apply within 3 months of arriving, on ISD’s Customer Service Portal (on a computer, not a phone): Form EUTR 1 or EUTR 1A, with the documents it asks for. You can’t apply from abroad.
3. Wait up to 6 months. They can stay in Ireland while ISD decides, and may get a temporary stamp. Tell ISD straight away about any change, like a new address or a change in the EU citizen’s work.
4. When approved, register at Burgh Quay straight away, with the approval letter and passport. The EU citizen comes too, with their passport or ID card. There’s no registration fee.

Stamp 4 EU FAM

The residence card lasts up to 5 years, or as long as the EU citizen plans to stay, if shorter. With it, your family member can work, run a business and access education and healthcare like an Irish citizen.

• Absences of up to 6 months in a year don’t affect it. Before leaving for more than a month, tell the EU Treaty Rights Division and your registration office.
• After 5 continuous years, apply for a permanent residence card on Form EUTR 3: it lasts 10 years.
• If things change, like a final divorce, the EU citizen’s death, or the EU citizen leaving while your family member has custody of their child, apply to keep the right to stay on Form EUTR 5.
• Refused? Ask for a review on Form EUTR 4 within 15 working days.

Irish and British citizens

Irish citizens’ families usually apply under ISD’s rules for Irish citizens, not EU Treaty Rights. The exceptions: you lived together in another EU country using free movement and came back, or your family member had an EU residence card there.

British citizens living here since before 2021 use Forms EUTR 1 and 1A under the Withdrawal Agreement. Those who came later use a separate scheme.

Common mix-ups

Common questions

Sources