Immigrationboards.com

Hi all

Please forgive me if this has been answered, but I can't find a recent similar question...

I'm a British citizen, living and working in Spain for the past 13 months. Prior to this I lived in S E Asia - married there 4 years ago. We moved here as a family. My wife and step daughter have EU article 10, family member of EU citizen (Familiar ciudadano de la union).

We're planning on visiting the UK for a week - no intention whatsoever of settling, but I'm confused as to whether I require a family permit (which entails travel and translation costs) for a 1-week visit, or just the residence card (and passports of course).

We did fly into Stansted last November with residence cards / passports - but the border staff were quite undecided (5 of them discussed it - quite amicably) and finally just let us in - no stamps or anything. Not sure that was correct really.

But as it seems some requirements may have changed a bit since February, am I technically returning (even if only for a week) as per Surinder Singh and have to make a formal FP application?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I think they qualify under Surinder Singh. This implies that 9(5) also applies. Therefore, their Article 10 EU residence cards should be okay for UK entry.

Thanks Vinny

Yes, I'm pretty sure we/they do qualify under Surinder Singh, and we do/can tick all the boxes in 9 (2)-(5)

If I understand correctly, the FP is only valid for 6 months and appears primarily for applicants who wish to stay in the UK - unlike us who only want to visit for a week now and again (perhaps twice a year).

The only things (in addition to your links) that appear the most relevant are this: https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/apply and this: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... e-officers which refers to this: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -nationals

All of which indicate a formal application - the four stages test; with the considerable costs (as mentioned previously) travel to Madrid to file and biometrics, translations of Spanish documents (long-term lease, tax and social security registrations, car ownership papers etc) and other relevant documents.

Seems a huge overkill in our case?

Or should we just rock up at a UK airport / immigration counter with all the required paperwork - do we get a right of 'discussion' there if necessary?

Thanks