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hi im a irish citizen who is self employed in uk and my wife is a thai national on a uk student visa. we recently got married in may 2012 we have known each other for the past 5 years and are now living together for past 6 months her uk student visa runs out in july 2012 we went to a imirgration solicitor and were advised to apply for eea family permit but isnt a eea family permit for non eea partners to travel to uk ...but shes already in uk. should we apply for something else please help????

You are right. EEA Family Permit is obtained outside the UK. She needs to apply for a Residence Card using form EEA2. See more Residence documents for non-EEA family members of EEA nationals.

when my wife applies for a eea resident card and if she recives the card can she travel with me to ireland on the card or travel to thailand for holiday for a few weeks ........can she get back into uk without any complications ?

jamoman wrote:when my wife applies for a eea resident card and if she recives the card can she travel with me to ireland on the card

Yes

jamoman wrote: or travel to thailand for holiday for a few weeks...

Yes

jamoman wrote:can she get back into uk without any complications ?

Yes as long as you continue to live in the UK in accordance with the regulations (eg work / self-employed)

You have a really simple situation.

You are from another EU member state and are working in the UK.
You have been in a long term relationship and recently got married.

Your wife can today apply for a Residence Card. You will need to provide your passport (to prove identity), your wife's passport (to prove identity), your marriage certificate (to prove that you are married), and evidence that you are self-employed (I am a little unclear of what you need to provide for this).

I personally would not bother spending money on a lawyer to help you with the application. It is pretty straight forward. In fact you do not even need to use the application form: you can send UKBA a cover letter and the documents.

I would personally especially not use a lawyer that advised you to apply for an "EEA Family Permit" (unless they were having a particularly bad and confusing day at the time).

Also note that your wife is presently legally resident in the UK. She is not required to apply for an RC, though it certainly helps for travel or if she wants to prove her right to work.

Travel: with the RC your wife can reenter the UK without problem. She can also enter Ireland without a visa. And same for most other EU member states. Her passport should never be stamped in the EU when she shows she has a RC.