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Hello everyone.Please I have got a question.My friend is a nigerian national and she has rc which she got through her brother since 2010.She has a british boyfriend who she intends to marry but a lawyer told her it is not possible to marry in the uk that she has to go back to her country and it will be easier to to change her status from her home country.
Please can anyone advice if this is true and if there is another option for her and what she can apply for if the marriage can be done in the uk.Thank you very much all.

This is very wrong, she can marry hear as she has a right to live in the UK. She cannot change her immigration status to a spouse, she will have to go to Nigeria to do this.

To be perfectly honest, i see no gain in her doing so, for a variety of reasons.

Obie,Please can you explain the reasons why my friend should not change her status.I presume that's what you mean.

There is the EU route and there are is the immigration rules. One has to choose one or the other, one cannot mix.

In general, if one wanted to apply under the immigration rules, it would have to be done in the home country.

mall wrote:Obie,Please can you explain the reasons why my friend should not change her status.I presume that's what you mean.

Why would your friend want to change her status in the UK?

Exactly what is the basis that she got a RC? Because she was an extended family member of her brother?

Thanks for all your reply but the reason why my friend was thinking of changing her status in the uk is because if she marries her british boyfriend,she will no longer be dependent on her brother as she will not be living with him and when she finishes her five years,she did not want all the hassle from the home office.
My friend does not know how long it would take if she went back to her home country or if it was easier applying here after the wedding.
Please advice best way.thanks

She got the rc as an extended family member.

Was she living with her brother immediately before moving to the UK? Is she living with him now?

I do not think the law requires you to continue to live together forever the only time your friend may need her brother his when she want to apply for PR to provide the ID and as well shows He is still leaving in UK.

I am willing to be corrected by anyone in the forum incase my statement was wrong.

Well, under the UK national rules, she will need to wait 5 years to qualify for a Permanent residence, nevermind the maintenance and accommodation requirements she will need to satisfy to obtain an entry clearance, as well as the ridiculous fees. The clock will essentially restart again.

Under the EU rules, she currently holds a Residence card, and i am sure she has already accrued enough time that will ultimately go towards the qualifying requirement for permanent residence card.

Under the EU regulation, it is questionable, in light of the CJEU judgement in rahman, whether the UK can insist on these people showing continued dependancy or membership of the household in order to qualify for Permanent Residence, when that does not seem to be the requirement for Residence card. In light of that judgement, i wonder if regulation 8(2C) will be lawful.

[b] Rahman[/b] wrote:34 In the main proceedings, it is for the national tribunal to establish, on the basis of the guidance as to interpretation provided above, whether the respondents in the main proceedings were dependants of the Union citizen, in this instance Mrs Rahman , in the country from which they have come, Bangladesh, at the time when they applied to join her in the United Kingdom. It is only if they can prove that dependence in the country from which they have come, in accordance with Article 10(2) of Directive 2004/38, that the host Member State will have to facilitate their entry and residence in accordance with Article 3(2) of that directive, as interpreted in paragraphs 22 to 25 of the present judgment.

[b] Rahman[/b] wrote:45 The answer to the sixth question therefore is that the question whether issue of the residence card referred to in Article 10 of Directive 2004/38 may be conditional on the requirement that the situation of dependence for the purposes of Article 3(2)(a) of that directive has endured in the host Member State does not fall within the scope of the directive.