New EU Treaty Rights Application Forms

New application forms are available to those who would like to apply for residence in Ireland under Directive 2004/38/EC

If you are applying for residence after the 30th of April 2022 having accompanied or joined an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen family member who has moved to or is residing in Ireland pursuant to the Directive 2004/38/EC, you have to complete the new forms. The old forms will be accepted up to and including the 30th of April 2022 (post marked 29 April 2022). After that date the applications completed with the old form will be returned without further processing

The main changes include the Data Privacy Notice.

Form EUTR5 (retention of right of residence) and Form EUTR4 (request for review) are in a completely new format.
Form EURT1 has had changes in relation to questions relating to certain qualifying family members – dependent children or parents.

From EUTR1 used to be 44 pages long, whereas now it is 52 pages.

On page 3 the form explains how the data collected will be used including to assess any entitlements to reside in the State as a EEA/UK national or a family member of EEA/UK national. Page 5 expands the purposes for which the data maybe used to include research or statistical purposes.

On page 4 it now states that the personal data submitted maybe shared with UK competent authorities. This was not included in the previous versions of this form. It does not specify anywhere in the form what UK competent authorities mean and whether it includes only government authorities in the UK or some other entities (for example, banks, semi-state bodies, etc).

Under the rights on page 5 the applicant has now the right to obtain erasure of personal data. Before there was only a right to make a request to erase data or correct errors. It is stated that the right to erasure is not absolute and each request will be considered on its own merits.

The right to make a complaint now also include an option of sending the complaint by post, not only by the email like in previous forms.

Under the new form in case of dependant children/grandchildren or parents/grandparents, the applicant is required to submit a detailed summary on any other sources of income or capital before coming to Ireland, including income in form of salary, pension, social security, income from rental property, savings, investments or any other sources. Each of the items must be accompanied with the documentary evidence.

In addition to questions of how much money did the applicant received from the EEA national, how often and how were the funds paid, there is a question on how long did they receive these funds.

On page 21 there are a few questions concerning the place of actual residence in Ireland and whether it is rented, owned or occupied by the applicant free of charge.

There is also a question of what is the applicant’s current activity which seems a bit out of place considering that the application is specifically for dependent children/grandchildren and parents/grandparents who do not have a right to study, work or do business in Ireland yet. Unless the applicant is still in their own home country but then they are not eligible to submit that application because it can only be submitted from Ireland after the arrival of the applicant to the State.

Further questions also ask the applicant to elaborate on who is living in the same place of residence and your relationship to each of the residents.

Question 1.89 asks whether an applicant received any emotional or physical support from the EEA national and this should be supported by documentary evidence. It is not clear how this could be done if most of the emotional support we provide is done through talking. It is not clear what the Department of Justice means by emotional and physical support from the EEA national considering that only a very small percentage of EEA nationals are qualified psychiatrists or specialist doctors.

Question 1.90 asks to provide the details of any family in home country of the applicant.

Question 1.91 asks to provide the applicant with compelling or compassionate circumstances that would make it difficult for the applicant to live in their home country without the EEA national. Here it seems that the focus on not why some countries may have bad economies or high level of pollution but rather the department is looking for some reasons that make the applicants life difficult without the EEA national in their home country.

There are some other minor changes related to the format of the questions and their order.

Make sure to use the new application form after submitting applications after 30th of April 2022.