Hi All,

My situation:
I am Irish, my partner of 2 years is Japanese (non-visa required national). Presently I reside in Ireland(returned to ireland after several years post in japan) and she resides in Japan.
In September 07 I will become a full-time student in the UK. She can join me there in December 2007/January 2008. The fiance visa and work permit options are not applicable to us yet.
We have been looking into various scenarios but would be grateful for your view.
Here are some of the ideas we have been thrashing out, naturally enough we are looking for the best case that will allow us to be together and so determine our future together:

(a) She applies for the EEA family permit at the Tokyo office as the unmarried partner of an EAA national (does this mean I am her sponsor?)or

(b) She visits Ireland and is allowed to stay for the 90 days. During this time we apply for her leave to remain on the grounds of our relationship (we have substantial savings but no evidence of cohabitation). We get leave, are issued with the GNIB card and can apply for the EEA permit in Dublin, we go to the UK or

(c) We get engaged during the 90 days. If we cant get married within the 90 days we apply for leave to remain during which time we receive the GNIB and so on and so forth as part (b) or

(d) We get married in the 90 days. She receives full entitlement to work and live in the EU and we move to the UK on the EEA permit/spouse visa.

Do you think I am being naive or am I misinformed with regard to the above situations. Can you advise?

Questions/Concerns:
Will the fact that I am a full time student and not in full time employment (in the UK) be a major barrier to obtaining the permit.
I am sure I will have a student part-time job but is this useless for the application?.
Does getting married in Ireland give us any guarantees? Will she be given leave to remain and the right to live and work in Ireland automatically and hence is free to come with me to the UK on the EEA permit? Or are there other areas we will have to address.

Many thanks for reading my post. If you can offer any help or a better assessment of our situation I would love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Si.