Welcome to Tax Bytes for Expats, the top tax tips you want to know as an expat. The podcast is here to help answer the common queries and concerns expats have when moving to or from Ireland.

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Thanks for joining us today for this episode of Tax Bytes for Expats.

Today we are going to talk with Marcus Bailey, who is a client of ours as he has navigated his move to Ireland.

I know from having spoken to Marcus throughout the process, it's not been without challenge. And today we're hoping he'll give us some insight into what that's been like, the things he's learned.

And I suppose the ultimate question being, has it all been worth it so far? So thank you so much, Marcus, for joining us. And it's great to have you on. And thanks for giving us the time today to share your experience.

It's my pleasure, Stephanie.

Whatever I can do to help other immigrants, that's what I want to do today. I've watched some of your other podcasts. They were helpful to me.

So it's my turn to give back.

Oh, that's very kind of you. Very kind. So maybe before we kind of kick off a little bit about what the experience has been like, moving here has been like to date.

Tell us a little bit, Marcus, about, you know, your background, why Ireland, you know, where you were in the U.S. Tell us a story. What has the last few years looked like for you?

Yeah, well, I was in I.T. I was an I.T. consultant for most of my career. We actually retired this summer. And that was I didn't want to retire.

I'll get to that in a moment. But why am I in Ireland? Well, I can tell you, I've been visiting Ireland since 1995.

I had a very spiritual experience when I stepped on the court in Dublin.

It's very hard to describe what that feeling was, but I was almost on my knees and almost in tears.

I was just overwhelmed, overcome, didn't know what was really happening to me. I'd never felt that way before.

That was the very first time I stepped foot in Ireland and that feeling never left.

And, you know, many years later, Ireland just kept calling me home. I'll just say it that way.

Not that there were big issues in the U.S. It was just I felt really connected to Ireland in a spiritual way.

And so that's really how this whole story started for me. I've been coming to Ireland probably every two years.

I've seen most of the Irish state and even the northern parts of Northern Ireland, which is fantastic as well.

When I got to spend more time in Ireland on longer trips, I found that the people were really inviting. And I was really lucky. And there's just a lot to see.

Where my wife and I, Marth, lived in the U.S. was in Seattle. The weather is kind of the same. It's very, very similar.

Although this past week, it was really windy here, you know, around 50 mile an hour winds.

We're currently renting a place in Kinsale, which is in Corbin. We're renting a place in Corbin Park, which is the largest county in Ireland.

So we are way down south on the Atlantic Ocean.

And I really hadn't felt those kinds of winds since I was in Texas in 1981 and I survived Hurricane Alicia.

I was in the eye of the storm. Stephanie, you wouldn't believe this. The eye of the storm, 170 miles an hour.

Wow.

For me and all of my neighbors. And everybody. And so 50 mile an hour winds, yeah, not too bad, I guess, compared to surviving a hurricane.

Yeah, but it's still quite severe weather.

Yes.

And I know that in some places in Cork and Waterford and Middletown and others, the Irish residents are still having difficulties with all of the flooding.

So really feeling bad for them and, you know, hopefully the government can help them out.

Yeah, I think you're right. Generally in Ireland, our weather is temperate. Those events do happen. But for us, the idea of a hurricane with 170 mile an hour wind is just like, whoa.

You know, a 50 mile wind here is newsworthy. And I think that attracts people to Ireland. If you can live with the fact that maybe we don't have 365 days of wind. You know, scorching sunshine.

I don't really know anywhere that does have that. Apart from the Sahara Desert. But the weather here is, it's not severe in any way, most of the time. Have you found, it sounds like neither was Seattle.

So I suppose the weather hasn't necessarily been a big shock then, has it?

We are right at home here. It's actually, it's been warmer here in County Cork than it has been in Washington State and Seattle.

And talking to the locals, and that's one of the things that I would say to folks. When you arrive here, I call it the rainbow country. It's not the rain country.

It's, yes, it's the Emerald Isle. But there's rainbows almost every day. It's unbelievable. You know, double rainbows. And they're very vibrant.

It is just absolutely gorgeous and unbelievable. Just to see those types of rainbows.

It just really makes you feel extra special. And in awe as well. Just to make sure that I answer your question about the weather.

We're right at home here. And the weather has been quite pleasant. And no, it doesn't rain. So for the listeners. Listeners of this podcast.

It doesn't rain every single day in Ireland. If that's what you have read. Or if that's what you've been told.

I can tell you, not just because I'm living here now. Because of all of the times that I've been here. It is not constant.

Yeah, that's actually a really good point. Because I think there is a little bit of a, it's kind of a morning joke. Oh, it rains all the time in Ireland. It rains a lot, but it doesn't rain all the time.

And I think one of the things that, there's pros and cons to every place. I know when we lived in Australia. I used to know that the autumn days would be really sunny and the sky was blue.

One of the things we have in Ireland that you don't get everywhere else in the world. Even in sunny locations. Is the really long evenings in the summertime. So you know in the, in summer if we have a nice run.

You can have literally 14, 15 hours of the day where it's bright. And it's just, it is great. You're right. And we tend to sometimes buy into that. It always rains in Ireland. It does rain a lot, but not constantly.

So I'm really glad even though you haven't been here that long. That that's what you've surmised. Maybe then to kind of tell us a little bit about, you know, the decision to move here. You've obviously been coming here for some time.

What has the journey and the decision. And I know some of it. So I'm interested to hear the distillation of it to this point. What has actually physically getting to Ireland been like? You know, are you guys broken?

Has it been really tough?

Well, there were days and sometimes weeks where we weren't quite sure if we were going to make it.

And let me talk about the immigration process just briefly.

You know, there the immigration team all over Ireland really has had a really tough go because of the war with Russia.

And Ukraine and Ireland has been gracious to accept over 60,000 Ukrainians. And so the immigration system has been stressed.

And when we started our application, our first application was October of last year.

We knew that we were going to be in the queue and the queues were getting longer. And so we were relayed. Wanting to be patient.

But we made some mistakes, not because of immigration, but because of just not understanding what things meant.

You know, the Irish do speak English, but it's a different. Some of the meanings are different.

And so we essentially had to start over in April. This year. And that was kind of disappointing. Right.

So it took about 11 months from beginning to end from the time that we initially started the process to when we arrived on October the second of this year.

Normally, I think that process would take probably four to five months. Our situation was different and everybody's situations going to not be the same.

I had two companies, Stephanie, as you know, that I had to sort out. So I had some some additional complications. I had to step out of some roles. I had to essentially retire.

The tax advice that you provided in the March April timeframe was pretty critical to help me to get sorted our budget.

How we were going to be an independent means in to be able to convince Irish immigration that we're just not coming here to be a burden on the Irish welfare system.

And, you know, that that is a big that is a big deal. So, yeah, it took about 11 months and there were just a lot of things happening in the queue. It was hard.

It was fun. It was it was a lot of different things. But hats off to Irish immigration because it's really tough.

There's been a lot of work for them, I imagine, based on what you said. If you were doing it again, what would you do differently? Did you use the services of an agent or did you go it alone?

Mostly alone. Other than the expat services with you, we used an agent. We used an immigration attorney and that was fine.

The cost wasn't too much either. What I have found is this is a surprising thing.

Last week we had an interview with an immigration officer in one of the towns here in Cork.

Fingerprinted, asked a number of questions just to really verify what is your address. What's your mother's maiden name? All of the identity proofing that they do.

Then we get to the end and it's $300 per person.

So I was surprised to hear that the particular visa that we are on, which is a retirement visa, has to be renewed every year. I'm going, well, let me see.

That's where we get to naturalization is going to take five years. How much is this really going to cost?

So the point of that is you need to budget for the long term, not just the short term.

It has taken much longer to get a bank account here. It was one of the surprises.

It was something that I heard that there was some challenges. But now that I've experienced it. And a lot of it has to do with you have to complete.

The immigration process and receive an Irish resident permit. That's a really critical document.

Probably the most critical when it comes to opening a bank account and really being authorized to live in Ireland.

It's really it's not a driver's license. It's really a proof that you are here legally. Within the Irish state. So sometimes people get that a little bit confused.

Now that we have that number, I am able to open up a bank account. Here's a tip for the listeners.

You don't need to bring a lot of cash or traveler's checks or anything like that.

When you make your one way ticket to arrive in Ireland.

Really, what I found is that Irish technology is just as good as what we had in America.

I use my smartphone for groceries, for restaurants.

We have bus passes that are really easy to use so that we can actually get around. There are ATM machines.

So if you do want to take out some. Cash that is available to you as well.

But, you know, don't bring thousands and thousands of dollars in your purse, your wallet to Ireland. You really don't need to do that.

Yeah, totally. Can you use a Google Pay and like. Yes. Yeah. So if you have that on your phone from the US, it works. We use that everywhere now. And so useful. We use it right across Europe.

So really, you're getting to the point where your phone is like your mobile card that you can just tap in any place. Most places that you go. Oh, OK. That's interesting.

Apple Pay, Google Pay. It all works great here.

It's instant, isn't it? It's so useful. Can you remind me, Marcus? I have a feeling you've told me, but apologies. I can't remember. Have you guys bought a house or did you rent when you got here in October?

Oh, yeah. So that. So housing was something that Mara was really stressed out about. She's been stressed out about housing because she had been reading in the Irish Times.

And the Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner and all of the Irish newspapers that there are not enough houses for people who want to purchase a house.

Now, that could be an apartment. It could be a standalone bungalow house. It could be a terrace house. It could be a lot of different things, depending upon your situation. We sold our house.

We sold our cars. We sold every. When we got on the flight, we had a total of six bags between us.

That was it. Now, we had to have some things shipped to us in boxes, books and posters and pictures and things like that.

Here's a little tip for the listeners. This is something that we just learned just yesterday. When you are shipping boxes,

even if you say their clothes or their gifts or whatever,

there is an EU customs charge that must be paid before customs will release those boxes until that is paid.

The good thing is that Mara was able to pay that online with a with a credit card. Credit cards. Also, you can use them everywhere here in Ireland.

I think I've only had two occasions where I've ever needed cash. OK, so we sold the house.

We were in an Airbnb for about six days only,

which was a thrill for us because we were thinking we were going to have to stay in the Airbnb for months. So as it turned out, we're on all the different websites for letters.

We're getting here in Ireland and like almost every other hour, we're getting alerts and we're catching the bus or we're walking to the places to do a walkthrough.

Our intention was always to rent an apartment or a house for a year and then figure out where we want to buy or build.

And so, you know, we are now, you know, into that second month and it's going really well.

We were able to find a house and sign a lease and move out of the Airbnb within seven days. It was very quick.

We were surprised. That's amazing.

Was there competition for the house? Did you have to go up against other people who wanted it?

Well, so since we're letting it for a year, there wasn't much. And I think part of it is being in Kinsale,

which is kind of like the jewel of Ireland, I think is at a higher price point that most people can't handle in their budget.

And, you know, it's a nice place. Kinsale is a great town. We love living here, but there's lots of great places. There's great places in Waterford, in Wexford, you know,

and in Killarney. There's great places all over. You know, it just depends on what is most important to you.

So here's something that we learned that I can share. We, as we're continuing our home search,

we've been talking to a number of the real estate agents and, and also mortgage folks. So one of the things that we did a lot in,

in America was we paid attention to our credit, but we want to establish credit history here in Ireland as well.

And we thought the best way to do that would be is to get a home mortgage. Well, that option really is not available to retirees.

Banks in Ireland will not, lend, loan you money for a mortgage unless you have income from work or from a pension.

And we're retired, so we're not working. And it will be at least another five to six years before we draw any money from our pension.

So we're just living off of the savings that we accrued. So that's a bit of a disappointment. I mean,

we didn't want to take the proceeds from our home sale in America and just put it all into a brand new house in Ireland,

because we like that liquidity. Yes,

it's flexibility, isn't it? Yeah. So, okay, this, this is something that has come up before. And I think there's,

there's sometimes such differences between maybe Ireland and the US and Ireland and any other country, around owning a home generally. Buying a home, you know, land law, conveyancing,

the process, obtaining a mortgage. And I think you raise a very valid point, is that really what you're saying is don't assume that what you're used to holds,

because rules and situations and banks operate differently everywhere. I really hope that's not going to mean that you guys are unable to buy a house. I'm sure given the, the persistence you've demonstrated to get this far,

that you're going to be able to find the home of your dreams in due course. I'm confident you will, notwithstanding the fact that, you know, getting a mortgage is not easy.

One of the things that we say to clients is that it is always worthwhile talking to brokers who have experience dealing with expats,

simply because they sometimes deal with banks that can provide, you know, alternatives to what the retail bank is offering.

And I suppose one of the people we've spoken to on the podcast previously is Paul at Top Mortgages. I'm not sure if you've spoken to him, Marcus, but he works with a lot of expats. He can't work magic,

but he definitely can tell you what you kind of can't get. So we'll watch this space for you guys and see where that goes. But it sounds like that part of Ireland is really where your heart is at the moment. It's early days.

Do you feel any regrets so far?

Oh, coming to Ireland? Absolutely. No regrets. And, you know, there are, it's a different country, right?

And making assumptions is really going to get you in a lot of trouble, right? It's not bad. It's just different, right?

And you just have to educate yourself and you have to be open to learning a different way of doing things. Why? You have to know how to handle transfers,

how those are handled, housing, how that's handled. Transportation is very, very good here.

We bought a Leap card and we're able to top it up with money, and we can get from Kinsale to Cork City in about 25 minutes.

It's really not that bad at all. One of the challenges that we're facing right now,

is the process of obtaining a full irish driver's license oh yes this old chestnut yeah for you

guys it's not as straightforward is it after a year it is not and i remember stephanie i think

you shared with me that um the u.s driver's license is good for 12 months from the time that you

arrive in ireland well the the process again it's not a bad process it's there because the

road safety administration rsa here in ireland has these rules in place for a reason for the

safety of all of the drivers on the road well there are some prerequisite things that you have

to do for example you need to have a public service car

that's also known as the pps number so for the american folks that's like the

your social security number gives you access to a lot of different things you also need to have the

irish residency permit you have to have a place that you are renting you have to have documentation

you need to upload your visa you need to do a lot of things before you can actually

sit for the theory test to start the process to obtain a learner permit in ireland that whole

process can take up to about 18 months one of the things that i wanted to share with the listeners is

ireland has a driver's license exchange program unfortunately the u.s is now one of those countries that they're using for driver's license exchange and they're using it for driver's license exchange

they will exchange the license so if you're coming from the uk if you're coming from australia if you're coming from india other places if you're coming from the ukraine yes they will just

exchange the license for expats coming from america there is a much longer process so you

need to be patient you need to get educated you need to come up with the schedule

of how you're actually going to sort it all out because the fines for a learner driver without

an accompanying sponsor in the car are quite severe and that's a good thing actually

marcus what does it mean practically because just doing the math there you said you can drive for 12 months in ireland but it takes 18 months to get a license does that kind of mean you have

to be in a car and you've got to be in a van and you're driving to get a license yes it can take up to 18 months and so

we're scheduled to take the theory test on friday so fingers crossed we are moving at lightning speed

i would give you some tips if i could remember what's in a poll i count it's a long time since

yeah it is well there's a mobile app that is available and it um it has uh practice questions it has practice exams so we've been doing it for a long time and i think it's going to be a great using that a lot.

I don't want to tell you how many times we've failed. But we're getting better. And so, yeah, if it turns out

that I'm unsuccessful with passing the theory test, and it does take 18 months, I'm hoping that there is an extension that the Irish

government will give slower learners.

No, see, Marcus, it's not going to happen. You'll be whizzing around Kinsale in a car before long. I can see it. I can see it. I love your confidence. Oh, full confidence in you. Isn't it funny?

I really think, I probably overly think these things, but I really think that moving country strips you back. It strips you back to something where you're like, and Jenny, you know, we interviewed

her in the prior episode, and she was like, like, you know, you're going through all these things, you're applying for social security numbers, you didn't do these things all together at once, and you certainly haven't done them for a long time. And I know even,

you know, on kind of an admin level, you have to go back to basics. You know, if you're coming from the US, you're going back to basics, you're in doing your theory test for loads of 18 year olds, you've been driving for years. What's it been like, I suppose,

kind of, it's certainly days for you guys, you know, making friends. How do you see that's going to pan out? Is that something that's going to be hard to kind of make? A community for yourselves here? Or how have you found that so far?

Yeah, we're still working on that. This move to Ireland and all of the things that we've had to do. We've been so preoccupied with

immigration appointments, getting our PPS number, getting, studying for the driver's license, getting into a place. We've been here now for about six weeks.

So we've been going, going, going, and going.

We live in

a community where everybody's lovely. The landlord, they moved to Clare, but they're going to come back once

they retire. They moved to County Clare, I think, to be closer to his wife's parents. I think maybe she actually grew up there in County Clare, which is a lovely

place as well. We, just walking through the town past the friary, we're getting to know a lot of the locals

and they recognize us now. We do have kind of a funny accent, you know, so we don't have an Irish accent.

Not yet. It'll come. Well, one of the things we spoke about in the prior episode is learning Irish. You never know. Maybe in due course, you'll decide to pick it up and have a Cupla

Fochail to actually be able to say hello in Irish or whatever.

Yeah, I hope so. I mean, there are, I was really surprised. One of the things that surprised me is there are on RTE, the television, several

Irish channels. I mean, they're speaking, you know, they're speaking the Irish. It's not gay like they're speaking the Irish. That's different. That's what we've learned.

It is. There's little pockets of Ireland where people, you know, as their first language, speak Irish on a day-to-day basis. There'll be quite a few of them around where you are. And yes,

you know, the news is read at six o'clock in Irish on the English station and then there is a dedicated channel. So yeah, you know, from a cultural perspective,

it's there. I suppose it's not the day-to-day language of the majority of Irish people, but it is definitely something that is a big part of our culture. So I hear Irish

every day that I go out, which is fantastic because you know, they're keeping the language going and that, you know, that

is important for any country. But yeah, I mean, it doesn't bother me at all. I do need to do some learning. I just think it's really great. It's

grand. You've got your theory test

to learn for the time being, so I reckon you've enough on your plate.

We'll catch up again maybe in six months or a year's time and we can have a conversation in Irish. You'll have to teach me. Marcus, there's so many things you said there that I just think people listening are going to go, wow, what great tips.

And I think the really good thing about having the chat is you haven't really been here for that long, really, but you've been working towards it for quite a while. So a lot of the new things are fresh in your head. I would

love us to catch up again if you're willing to in six months or a year's time. And here, I wonder how things have gone for you both, whether or not you decide to buy, what that looks like, what actually assimilating has felt like that

year on. But yeah, I can't thank you enough. I think people are going to be very grateful that you shared those insights and it's been a pleasure to chat to you and talk to you all afternoon.

It's my pleasure, Stephanie. And it is, I'll just tell people, don't give up. Keep

going. If you don't hear from Irish immigration for a month, no worries. That's normal, right? I mean, they are really, really

busy. Don't get frustrated if you can't get things immediately. And, you know, in America, we want things really fast and rapidly

and in large quantities. You need to slow your pace down and you need to just take a walk around the neighborhood, and talk to the locals.

The locals will tell you that they will guide you. I'm learning so much from the locals. That really is better than the internet

for us.

I mean, you know, about house prices and about this store and about this place. Crime, very, very low in Ireland.

And so, just come on over. Just do it. It's a one wonderful country. It's a wonderful people. It's wonderful sceneries. Come over and enjoy the rainbows.

Oh, that's going to be the title of the podcast. Come and see the rainbows. Honestly, thank you. I think you've got a career in this, Marcus. You're brilliant to talk to.

Thank you so much. I really, really mean it. It's been great to talk to you. I'm sure we'll be catching up again soon. We'll have to talk to you again in the future on the podcast. Thanks for listening to Tax Bytes for Ex-Pats.

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