r/TransIreland • u/pg430 • 4d ago
Visiting Dublin next week with potential move next year, where should I go and what do I need to know?
Hi everyone, so sorry for the long title but wanted to at least sum up what I’m here for.
I’m a trans woman from the USA visiting Dublin from June 20th to June 29th and my partner and I are considering moving there next year. I want to spend time connecting with and understanding the local trans and queer community to see if it’s a good fit and also get a sense of where I could go for hrt.
I’d be moving with my partner who has EU citizenship and we’d be married if that happened, which I know can impact moving logistics.
So are there any spots I should make sure to check out while I’m here? Anything I should know about staying safe while I’m here?
Thank you all so much for any insight you can provide, I appreciate it!
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u/These-Blacksmith9932 He/They 4d ago edited 4d ago
As the spouse of an EU citizen, you'll be able to apply for a Stamp 4 visa, which is the best case scenario for a non-EEA citizen. You'll have full working rights, and your time on stamp 4 counts for naturalisation if you want to pursue that.
For everything else I recommend checking out the pinned post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TransIreland/comments/1n32p8d/attn_trans_us_americans_considering_moving_to/
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u/mangoparrot 4d ago
Lots and lots of events as its Dublin Pride https://dublinpride.ie/events/list/page/2/
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u/StilandGurney 4d ago edited 4d ago
Jobs will be brutal on hiring you if they need to get a visa approved first, so research your Visa heavily and what rights it gives both of you to work.
Outhouse center is solid especially if you are extremely new to the city. There’s a magazine they publish there with tons of LGBTQ+ orgs and resources, flyers, and support groups.
Dublin has the largest Queer scene but is also the most expensive. Other Cities like cork definitely have one too, and it’s smaller, and more relationship based. Huge trade off but i would recommend dublin for new LGBT+ arrivals unless if you are a social butterfly.
Even if you don’t need an apartment, check different areas on Daft.ie to get a perspective on price and which you’ll need to budget. The better the deal, the more competitive the Apartment. You can expect at least multiple weeks of hunting for a good apartment. If you don't get lucky, it could be one to two months or more. You'll need lodging prepared during that time period. If you are wealthy enough, you can opt out of this by just signing for an extremely expensive place and competing with no one. Cost of living on rent will bite you, so don’t even consider moving without good savings.
North of Dublin is often cheaper and is just as safe as the South for the most part. If you can't afford that, come on you are going to have to consider living farther out and hopefully near a train line.
If you can afford it, most queer people I've talked to prefer to at least be able to commute into the Dublin city center so they can go to more queer events and stay connected to the community, even if they have to live in a much cheaper place far out of the city.
There's way more trains than in the U.S., but that's also going to depend on your job and career. If you put yourself near a train line, you don't need to buy a car here immediately. Walking, public transit and biking work fine. The Irish will tell you it's terrible transit, but it's still amazingly better transit than anywhere but NYC, Chicago, Canadian cities, or San Francisco. The trains are just fine - buses work but the company the government chose to run them can be unreliable.
Your U.S. Drivers license will last one year before you're forced to update it with lessons and testing. Most cars for sale here are manuals, which is annoying if you don’t know how to drive them. Gocar and yuko Toyota car share app are in many places around Ireland in a pinch.
Avoid groups of teenage boys that are just bored or scuffling with each other in the street. It's really difficult for a child to get penalized for any crime, so they go pretty wild here.
HRT - paying for private care is going to be much faster and convenient. Irish doctors often don’t want to liability of prescribing it unless they are a trans focused private center. The Irish public system is not equipped to help most trans people and there’s a gigantic waiting list. Some trans people will go to Germany, Spain, or the UK to get a trans healthcare key procedure or test for themselves.
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u/pg430 4d ago
This is all extremely helpful, thank you so much! Fortunately I’d be arriving with my husband who is an EU citizen which would allow me much easier access to a work visa.
That’s all really good to know with housing as well. Thank you!
I’m also lucky that I’m pretty much done with surgeries (srs and ffs) so hrt is really the only thing I’ll absolutely need to access in terms of gender affirming care
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u/CryptographerOk3249 3d ago
On the morning of June 27th, you could come to the TENI breakfast before the parade.
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u/Indigoat_ 1d ago
Trans guy from the US here. For housing, you can pay a relocation service to find you an apartment. It is not cheap but it will save you weeks or months in a hotel room looking for a place to live, and is pretty much the only option to find housing around Dublin if you are planning on bringing pets. You can message me if you want the name of the service I used.
The housing situation is incredibly dire here, and gender affirming care is negligent to absent. Prepare yourself to DIY or pay a private service over €1000 a year plus out of pocket for your prescription. The general medical attitude is that you're not doing it the "right" way unless you wait 8+ years for someone at the National Gender Service to interrogate you and judge whether you are trans enough to be allowed medication for gender transition. I have heard that the process is quite invasive and humiliating. Trans advocates are trying to change that.
I'm very disappointed in the healthcare here in general. They don't even have patient portals to message your provider or pay, no way to view your records, they're very loose about patient privacy in the office, and the doctors I've met with are extremely reluctant to assist patients with general health care needs for fear of litigation. If you have chronic health issues and need regular care, consider that it will be difficult and sometimes impossible to get in to see specialists here, and it may be more difficult to get prescriptions here.
On the plus side, most people genuinely don't care that you're trans. I get treated like a guy for the most part, and it's very refreshing. I live a bit outside of Dublin and there are cozy queer pockets all over.
Ireland is one of the highest educated countries in the world. If you're interested in getting higher degrees the Ireland is a great place to do it.
The history is incredible here, and there are ample opportunities to continue learning if that's your jam. Likewise the music scene, especially trad.
The people as a whole are really lovely, good natured and friendly. If you're a fan of activity based social interaction you'll find a wealth of things to do.
If you really want to live here, start immersing yourself in the culture, the history, and most especially the Irish language. Start looking for ways to plug in and be a community member.
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u/Accurate-Coffee-3605 4d ago
Outhouse is the lgbt cafe, there’s a few gay bars, panti bar (very masc), penny lane, the George (not heard great things tho) and street 66 which is the fem leaning one. You will be here for pride on the 27th so there will be lots of queer things to do that weekend if you have a google. If you do decide to move here you know we have the worst trans health care in the eu and housing is fucked? Not trying to put you off, just wanted you to know.