Interesting John.
It's been tricky enough finding out the procedure to go through to acquire a UK fiance visa. Finding info on the procedure for acquiring an Irish Family Permit is proving trickier.
There appears to be certain benefits (according to a person on another forum) for going the family permit route such as -
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EEA family permit is a "right " under EU Law, unlike a UK visa application which is often easily rejected.
EEA family permit is completely free.
EEA family permit is nothing like as strict as a UK Spouse visa, and it is issued quickly without the exhaustive evidence that a UK Spouse visa application requires.
A UK spouse visa would not allow benefits including GP/Housing/Income support etc. for at least 2 years: whereas an EEA family permit allows your wife to work full time immediately or claim benefits in the unlikely event that one or both of you fall ill or hit bad times.
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- I am trying (labouring!)to find a site which would give me a "step by step".
Thanks for the advice. looks interesting.