So, I’ve always loved Irish music, and when the opportunity finally arose, my wife and took a vacation there a couple years ago. We loved every minute of it. So much so that we went back 6 months later for a mini-trip. That trip was just as good if not better.
Smitten with that amazing place, we sort of pie-in-the-sky discussed moving there. Sadly, neither of us have Irish ancestry, so insta-citizenship is not possible. And when I looked into it, it seemed like getting a work visa if you were not a doctor or nurse was practically impossible. So, I gave it up, since it was kind of a pipe dream anyway.
But for some strange reason it has been on my mind again lately, and since I am now a member of this board and know there are some lovely Irish folks posting here, I thought I would solicit some advice - to wit, how the hell can I move to Ireland? My wife and I both have master’s degrees and work in the arts - she in museums, me in theatre, and we’d be looking for work in those areas. (I also run my own theatre company, but that’s a labor of love, I don’t get paid). So, we’re not rich, but we’re definitely constructive members of society
Any advice from Irish Dopers? Am I being ludicrous to even consider it?
Ireland has famously always been kind to the arts (tax breaks, etc).
No idea how to go about getting citizenship as such, but your nearest Irish embassy might be a good place to start.
It may be easier to get a work visa if you have a job waiting for you…perhaps you could look into any vacancies in your fields ?
Are you implying that if you have Irish ancestry you get an automatic green card? I have no intention of moving there but it’s nice to know I have that option if I wish. (As I’m part Irish.)
Depends on how Irish you are. A friend of mine did this, IIRC it goes like this: A person is an Irish citizen by descent if at the time of birth at least one parent was an Irish citizen. Citizenship is subject to registration of birth. So if you have an Irish citizen grandparent born in Ireland you are in: your parent was automatically a citizen and so are you – you both have to have your births registered and then you get a passport.
But (again IIRC, it’s a little hazy) I think grandparents are the cutoff – prior to that the birth has to have already been registered before the birth of the current generation.
Do you have any idea of a good place to look for theatre jobs online? In my experience in the US, you don’t find the good jobs on any normal job sites (including newspaper classifieds). There are specialized orgs that insiders know about where all the jobs are. Anything like that in Ireland?
I went there is September the first time, then May. Both times we had mostly great weather, which we were told is quite unusual
So no, I don’t really know if I would like it year-round. But if I can live through 35 years of New England winters, I think I can take pretty much anything.
We don’t have anything like New England winters.
Summer is about 15-20 degrees Celsius, winter about -2-6 degrees Celsius, spring and autumn are in between. It is rare that snow lies, and almost everywhere has central heating (we don’t need air con as it never gets that hot).
Mostly a coat, an umbrella and sensible shoes will suffice. You don’t need special wet/cold weather gear. Be prepared to go to Spain if you want a real tan.
I’m not at all sure where to go for theatre/museum jobs. Monster.ie is a well-known job website, alternatively you could try the Irish newspapers like The Irish Times.
That first link is very helpful - organized and clear, unlike some of the other sites I’ve vistied. So thanks!
What it really looks like is that I (and/or my wife) need to line up a job to have any chance of getting over there. I don’t think I’m going to have a lot of luck on Monster.ie for theatre management jobs (but I’ll try).
I’m not much help I’m afraid, although if you do manage to get moved here don’t hesitate to ask for help etc. My American gf is tryna come to live in Ireland and we’re finding it hard for her to be able to work here. She can get a 4 month student visa but after that we’re S out of L unless I lose the run of myself and marry her. Good luck with your relocation plans.
