Paperwork

Knocking at the Garda station

We have been going to the Garda (police) station a lot lately. Not the one in Enniskerry pictured here, but the one in the town center of Dublin. It is the place where you get visas and residence and work permits. It's a very busy place. We went there twice and were told that they had run out of tickets for the day. The ticket is a number that determines your place in the waiting queue. At another time we were there and were told that we could go in early, before all the foreign students applying for their visas at the beginning of the school semester.

Because Lee Ann is married to a Swiss citizen, she doesn't need a work permit. But she does need a stamp in her passport and a picture ID-type card with her finger prints encoded in the embedded chip to prove that she doesn't need a work permit. On our most recent visit to the Garda station in Dublin we finally accomplished that. I had to go along. It was not enough for Lee Ann to show them my passport.

Now Lee Ann can legally work here. She can also stay here, but only temporarily. As the wife of a Swiss citizen she has the right to reside with me here in Ireland, but that too, requires a form. In this case a residence card. We are halfway there with the paperwork for that, but not quite. The main obstacle remaining is proof that she has taken up residence in Ireland. They send her mail to the house we are renting here, and Lee Ann is responding with mail stamped here, but that is not enough. We need a utility bill that has her name on it and some other thing from the county board that oversees property rentals.

The electricity and gas bill comes only every other month. Given how they run their business, I'm not sure why the Irish government places so much trust in them verifying that Lee Ann actually lives here. It's not like Airtricity comes by and checks up on Lee Ann. They don't even read the electric meter. In many places that is done electronically, and at ours we read it and enter it on their web page. Inspectors do official checks a couple of times a year. Lee Ann and I called Airtricity together on the phone and both affirmed that she lives here now.

A few of those still exist.

It's time consuming at frustrating, but we are making progress. In the meantime it is almost time to pack for our trip back to Albuquerque. We'll spend Christmas and New Year's there.