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Just a few days ago, my Non-EU spouse, our two kids and myself who are brits returned to the UK from Portugal where we have been resident for the best part of two years. My spouse has an Article 10. EU family member residence card issued by the Portuguese authority.

I decided I didn't want UK airport immigration hassles so we flew to Paris from Faro and then boarded the Eurostar from Gare du Nord. At UK border control I was asked a few cursory questions, as to how long we intended to stay, to which I was entirely non-committal, how long we had lived in Portugal,what I did for a living and where we would be staying, the IO asked for our marriage certificate and asked that we took a seat out of line and disappeared for about 5-10 minutes.

He re-appeared with my wife's passport and an EEA regs stamp for six months. He informed us that my wife had been granted a "highly unusual" entry stamp, to which i replied "really" "gee thanks" and that was it, we were on our way.

Aimar wrote: I decided I didn't want UK airport immigration hassles .

Not only ............ but also whether your spouse is allowed to board the flight in Portugal if people have no idea what an EEA residence card under Article 10 issued by the Portuguese authorities is.

Aimar wrote:Just a few days ago, my Non-EU spouse, our two kids and myself who are brits returned to the UK from Portugal where we have been resident for the best part of two years. My spouse has an Article 10. EU family member residence card issued by the Portuguese authority.

I decided I didn't want UK airport immigration hassles so we flew to Paris from Faro and then boarded the Eurostar from Gare du Nord. At UK border control I was asked a few cursory questions, as to how long we intended to stay, to which I was entirely non-committal, how long we had lived in Portugal,what I did for a living and where we would be staying, the IO asked for our marriage certificate and asked that we took a seat out of line and disappeared for about 5-10 minutes.

He re-appeared with my wife's passport and an EEA regs stamp for six months. He informed us that my wife had been granted a "highly unusual" entry stamp, to which i replied "really" "gee thanks" and that was it, we were on our way.

Hello Aimar,

Is there any reason why you didnt go for Family permit?
What is the benefit of opting this route over the FP?
Does that means that when you will apply for EEA2 in UK, you would skip the same sections as you would if you would have gone for family permit?