Anyones spouse got an Irish passport?

I used my newly issued Irish passport for the first time back in December.

Was so nice to avoid the very long UK passport holders queue at Spanish immigration and be waved over to the EU side to be through in seconds

Obviously by the time my baggage arrived on the belt we had all caught up with eachother

Great, thank you

My mum has recently recieved her Irish passport, Her Grandparents were Irish therefore qualified for an Irish Passport. It helps them massively as they travel to Spain/Portugal on their motorhome for months of the year, and thus get around the 180day/year rule.

My question is..... By my mum having an Irish passport, does that entitle me or my sister to apply for one?, how far down the line can you apply for one, anyone know?

Unfortunately for you the answer is no.

Had your mother applied for Irish citizenship through the grandparent route *before* you were born then because she would have been an Irish citizen at that point in time then you could apply for one, you being born to an Irish parent.

But as she didn’t apply and wasn’t an Irish citizen at the time of your birth you can’t.

Thanks. Lads trip to Spain means I can swan through then

Yes I am 100% sure as regards *EU* citizens, but I believe there may be similar rules for EEA and CH citizens as those are referred to in the Border guard's manual but as it doesn't impact me I haven't read the legislation.

To quote from the opening part of the section of the EU document I posted with my bolding -

In the case of third-country nationals who are family members of EU, EEA and CH citizens, they have the right of residence in a Member State for a period of up to three months if they are in possession of a valid passport and are accompanying or joining the EU, EEA or CH citizen, without any limitation to 90 days in a 180-day period.

The mention of three months is because if you are in any single EU country for more than three months you should register for residency, but don't need to if it is less than that and so we are just looking at the normal 90/180 day rules.

And then take a look at the examples in that section, with again my bolding -

*Examples (in all these examples, the third country national s not in possession of a valid residence card or a residence permit as further explained in point 2.8 of this Section):

An Indian national married to a French citizen may accompany his French spouse to Germany for three months, Spain for two months and Italy for three months, thus staying in the area without internal border controls for a total consecutive period of eight months.

So this isn't a French citizen bringing their non-French spouse to France, it is living in other parts of the EU for eight months (but no more than three months in any one country) and so way way beyond the 90 in 180 days.

and then this one to show you don't have to travel together.

A Chinese citizen married to a Swedish citizen spends alone, for business purposes, 15 days in Austria.

The Swedish citizen then joins him and they spend one month in Portugal.

Just after that month, the Swedish spouse leaves the EU.

The Chinese citizen can remain alone for the remaining 75 days in the 180 day period (the limit of 90 days in any 180-day period applies, but the stay performed together with the EU citizen should not be counted (in this example, the one month period) when assessing the respect of the limit of 90 days in any 180-day period)

That one shows that whenever the EU spouse is in the EU at the same time as the non-EU spouse that the 90 day clock doesn't run.

Now the problem is that the EU border guards, and frankly the EU citizens, need to know all of this - and it is damn difficult to find.

If you want chapter and verse on the EU law itself, I can provide it (although there are references to it in the Border guard's manual).

That's great news, thank you. I suspect my MiL's husband fell foul of the 3 month rule as he definitely stayed in one country for longer than that. But I'm 100% certain my FiL's wife has been abiding by the 90/180 day clock (she has the app on her phone and inserts all their trips on it), so will absolutely have a positive impact for her. Also means that with my wife and kids having Scandi passports I'll be looking forward to using the EU queue next time we travel.

Yes if they are aged under 21

Directive 2004/38/EC covers freedom of movement and that is relevant since if your family cannot spend time with you in the EU then *your* freedom of movement as an EU citizen is restricted -

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?ur...

‘family member’ means:

(a) the spouse;

(b) the partner with whom the Union citizen has contracted a registered partnership, on the basis of the legislation of a Member State, if the legislation of the host Member State treats registered partnerships as equivalent to marriage and in accordance with the conditions laid down in the relevant legislation of the host Member State;

(c) the direct descendants who are under the age of 21 or are dependants and those of the spouse or partner as defined in point (b);

(d) the dependent direct relatives in the ascending line and those of the spouse or partner as defined in point (b);

My other half is also Scandi. Strictly speaking, even EU citizens staying in another country should register within 90 days as I understand it. However, if the intention is to travel from one country to the next then that wouldn’t apply in your example.

So I guess the UK also had a 3 months before you have to register for EU nationals pre Brexit or didn't they bother