So I am a US Citizen living in the United States. I make a comfortable $80,000 a year through my extensive designs on Cafepress and Zazzle, so have no need for a job. And I can continue to do this in any country.
So I absolutely love Ireland, and visit at least 2-3 times a year for at least two weeks at a time. I would love very much to live there. Nothing would make me happier than to live on the Emerald Isle.
But, as you can see, I’m not qualified for any residency program. I don’t have a highly sought after niche job skill, I’m not old enough to qualify for a retirement visa, so there is but one way for me to make this happen: You guessed it, marrying an Irish citizen
What I DO have is quite a comfortable annual income. Suppose I started offering young Irish women who are in need of money $10,000 to marry me for 4 years.
See, I think what happened was I met this wonderful girl on one of my visits to Ireland, and after several visits and a long-distance relationship, we decided to tie the knot. That’s my official story.
In Ireland, a person can get residency by marrying an Irish citizen. Then, after 3 years, the non-citizen spouse can apply for permanent residency for themselves, and have residency no longer dependent on the preservation of the marriage, and is at that point a pretty turnkey process.
So I immediately get to move to Ireland due to my marriage, I easily get my own stand-alone permanent residency status after 3 years living there with my “wife,” then wait another year so it won’t “look” like it was a green card marriage, then we divorce due to “Irreconcilable differences” after 4 years. We will have signed an airtight prenup so the divorce is quick and cheap.
I am now a permanent resident of Ireland, and 5-7 years later I can become a citizen.
What’s in it for the girl? $5000 to come with me to the justice of the peace and marry me, not see me for another 4 years, then show up at the divorce proceedings, get her second $5000 payment, and never see me again.
I might get a lot of “No’s” but with the global economy being what it is, and no shortage of poor people even in the most developed countries, how long would it REALLY take me to find a girl willing to do this? I don’t even have to be in Ireland to find my green-card bride, I could communicate with Irish women via the internet from America and find one.
Could this work?