I might marry my gf, who has a UK passport. If so, could i then live in UK, or Ireland for extended periods? I'm American. Could she (we) buy a cottage in Ireland and me (we) live there all year, part of the year?

I think you need to get a "right of residence" after the marriage which involves proving this is not a sham marriage. After that you can go for citizenship.

Your spouse will also need to be earning more than £18,600 a year.

This tells you what visa to apply for and how much it will cost.

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk

As stated, just marrying a British citizen doesn't give you any extra rights. You can get UK spouse visa, which enables you to live and work in UK for 30 months, and after renewal, can apply for settlement (green card) in 5 years. Your visa only allows you to live in UK, and anywhere else in Europe (including Ireland) you are subject to the same rule as any other US citizen, so 90-in-180 days in Schengen and 3-month maximum in Ireland etc. Only when you are naturalised as British citizen, after 5 years and settlement, will you be able to travel, live and work freely throughout EEA. This assumes UK won't leave EU following their referendum in 2017.

Your position in the Irish Republic (you don't say where in Ireland you're planning your cottage) will be a bit more complex than the legalities just described.

If you intend buying in Northern Ireland, your right of access will be the same as to anywhere else in the UK.

If you intend buying in the Republic, then:
- of itself, having a UK visa gives you no access rights to the Republic
- if you intend spending longer than the 3 months stay Americans are by default given on arrival (as long as they don't intend doing something - like working - that tourists aren't allowed to) you'll need to apply for a separate Irish visa
- in practice, there's limited passport control between the UK and the Republic, and limited appetite on the part of the Republic authorities for being vexatious towards certain foreigners like Americans or Australians. But if anything goes wrong, you may well be deported, with your passport endorsed, if you're in the Republic illegally
- If the UK leaves the EU, border and travel arrangements with the Republic are unlikely to change, and the Republic probably won't join Schengen. But, with a real risk that the UK will announce its departure in 2017, it's certainly foolhardy to plan your life on the assumption the current laid-back attitude to the intra-Ireland border is here to stay.

All of which said (and experts like Alec know more about this than I do), there have been some appeals by people in your position to the European Court of Justice (an EU body, not the same as the European Court of Human Rights) establishing the right of non-EU spouses of EU citizens to stay in the UK, whatever the UK rules say (for example at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...european-court)

These decisions would obviously be void if the UK were to leave the EU

Your situation, incidentally, should you be eligible in your own right for an Irish Republic passport might be different still: the right of Republic citizens to live, work and vote here is not connected with shared EU membership.

If you really want to live here, and don't qualify for citizenship, in the present state of indecision it really would be wiser to consult a UK immigration solicitor (and possibly a separate expert on the law of the Republic) than rely on us on this board.

If you want to live in the UK, what everyone else has said.

If you go to Ireland, however, I think as long as your then-wife is working, you would be allowed to live with her as a family member of a citizen of another EU state exercising her treaty rights. If she's not working and you have independent resources I think it is alos possible but you may need to have private health insurance.

Official Irish info here: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages...iss%20citizens

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en..._national.html

Take into consideration if you will need 2 salaries to live on. Before moving ahead determine if you would be allowed to work in the UK or Ireland - not just live there.

Note that I am NOT an expert on this but a colleague of mine married a British citizen and while it was easy to get approval to live there, it took a considerable time for whatever legalities needed to be completed so she could work. He is a computer expert and has a fairly high income so this was not an issue short term - but she did need to work eventually and said the process was a complicated PIA even after she had found a company that wanted to hire her based on her specialized knowledge of the field.

I have had a different experience here in Spain with UK spouse and NZ spouse. Proving marriage, economic solvency and place of residence with rental contract, the NZ spouse was granted a 5 yr. residency card for Spain immediately. No long term visa was needed. Working did not enter into the equation, so was not addressed.

"you would be allowed to live with her as a family member of a citizen of another EU state exercising her treaty rights."

Only if:
- the UK remains in the EU, AND
- in the course of the next two years' renegotiations, the UK doesn't obtain an opt-out to the appalling situation in which unaccountable, appointed, ECJ judges can subvert immigration laws made by a democratic government - precisely the kind of abuse that discredits the EU in Britain. If Britain is allowed to opt out of this system, British voters are more likely to vote in favour of remaining members - but the opt-out would inevitably work both ways, so Britons wouldn't be able to import their non-EU partners into third countries.

In other words, the answer to the poster's question depends BOTH on whether the UK remains in the EU AND on whatever rule changes the EU makes to keep its only job-creating economy.

FWIW, though I believe we'll vote for staying in, I also believe we'll do so only if the EU drops, or agrees we can drop, intrusions into national sovereignty like "a family member of a citizen of another EU state exercising her treaty rights."

All the more reason for finding a competent, and politically astute, immigration solicitor. It's very likely that the correct answer to the poster's question today will be incorrect by the end of 2017.

That privilege (getting non-EEA spouse/partner to reside in the EEA partner's own country after exercising economic treaty rights in another EEA state) is called Surinder Singh (SS for short) provision, after a European Court judgment. SS is incorporated into the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 under Regulation 9 in UK, and in similar legislation elsewhere. In 2014, another judgment handed down by European Court has widened the scope to not just workers and self-employed but to others such as self-sufficient and students. Not every EU state has amended their domestic legislation, including UK. If UK is to obtain an opt-out from SS as part of its renegotiation with EU, that will further restrict non-EEA migration, which is a stated aim of the new Conservative government.

There should be no need for an immigration lawyer. They cannot bend the rules. Whatever the consulate tells you will be true. Have you even LOOKED on the UK website?

The paperwork will be extensive, needing Apostille seals on all foreign documents and newly issued ( within past 3months) , updated marriage and birth documents.

<<I might marry my gf>>

"Might" isn't what your gf will want to hear.

"You can get UK spouse visa, which enables you to live and work in UK for 30 months, and after renewal, can apply for settlement (green card) in 5 years."

I'm not up to date on the latest immigration rules, but when we moved to the UK in 2004, I got an Indefinite Leave to Remain settlement wife visa right off the bat. DH did have to submit a letter stating that I was the only wife for whom he was requesting the indefinite leave settlement visa (he could have more than one wife, but only one lucky lady could get the visa).

"There should be no need for an immigration lawyer. "

But they can tell you what the law is, how it affects your plans, and how it's likely to change. In an area so complicated, and open to such huge changes over the next two years, taking profound decisions about marriage on the basis of strangers' speculation on websites would be quite deranged.

British consulates absolutely do not exist to tell Americans what the law in Ireland will be in 2018 about Americans trying to exploit loopholes in British laws.

If prepared to waste their time, they'll refer the poster to a website - which won't even begin to advise on back-door migration to Ireland. If they're doing their job properly, they won't even pick up the phone.

<I>I'm not up to date on the latest immigration rules, but when we moved to the UK in 2004, I got an Indefinite Leave to Remain settlement wife visa right off the bat.</I>

Big change occurred in 2012 and now you need 5 years, no matter how long you've been married, to get indefinite leave to remain (ILR or settlement). Pre-2012, if you had been married 4 years or more, you got indefinite leave to enter visa, subject to passing Life in the UK test once you are in UK. Now it takes everyone 5 years, with renewal of leave at halfway stage.

"...subject to passing Life in the UK test once you are in UK."

I never had to take any test.

My son who is Australian was to get married in UK to a UK resident - he had to get a matrimonial visa and had a certain period to get married by . Then the marriage
Docs had to be sent to appropriate authority and some time after he was allowed to work . This was a few years ago but you need to do your homework . Also your girl friend mighten want to marry !!!

As a general rule if you marry a citizen of an EU country then you have to right to live and work in any EU country EXCEPT that of the country of citizenship of your spouse where local immigration rules - em - rule.

Life in the UK test requirement for ILR was introduced in 2007 (for naturalisation in 2005).