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Hello everyone,

I'm in a slight quandary and looking for a bit of guidance.

My situation is as follows:

- I am an EU national, resident in the UK - I have Settled Status

- My wife is a Pakistani national, resident in the UK - she also has Settled Status

- We have two kids, both are British nationals

- My wife has a Biometric Residence Card (BRC) issued under EU rules and its 5 year validity is due to expire at the end of this month (October 2021)



We are currently in Pakistan due to a family emergency and it is unlikely we will be able to return to the UK before either November or December 2021.

This means that my wife's BRC would have expired by then and gather that she will be denied boarding as she will not hold valid entry clearance.

As we both already have Settled Status, am I correct in saying that I just need some entry clearance for her to be able re-enter the UK?

After doing research, I understand that my options are limited to applying to one of the following:

- EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family Permit (Free to apply)

or - Replacement BRP Visa (£154 application fee)


Could someone clarify which one I should be applying for?

I was also trying to find out what the general turnaround times are to get a response to an application to one of the above but could not find anything.

Thank you for reading - any advice will be greatly appreciated.

mradam wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 05, 2021 1:13 pm

As we both already have Settled Status, am I correct in saying that I just need some entry clearance for her to be able re-enter the UK?

No.

The problem is not getting a further entry clearance, she already has that with the Settled Status.
The problem is proving that she has it.

After doing research, I understand that my options are limited to applying to one of the following:

- EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family Permit (Free to apply)

Correct. The above is the recommended course of action. Probably your only choice.

or - Replacement BRP Visa (£154 application fee)

No. Where do you get this from? She doesn't need to re apply for a visa. She already has Settled Status.
I believe that refers to UK Tier route (?) Useful if you share where you get that from.

I was also trying to find out what the general turnaround times are to get a response to an application to one of the above but could not find anything.

Your best shot is to apply as soon as possible, and report your timelines. I don't think there is a dedicated thread for EUSS Family Permits, but nothing stopping you from starting one.

Thank you kamoe for your reply

or - Replacement BRP Visa (£154 application fee)

No. Where do you get this from? She doesn't need to re apply for a visa. She already has Settled Status.
I believe that refers to UK Tier route (?) Useful if you share where you get that from.

This is the page I got this information from:
https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence- ... xpired-brp

If you scroll to near the bottom of the page, it says:

If you’re outside the UK

You cannot apply for a replacement BRP if it expires while you are outside the UK. Instead, you’ll need to apply for a ‘replacement BRP visa’, which lets you re-enter the UK once only. It costs £154.

You can apply for a replacement BRP when you return to the UK. You must do this within 3 months of its expiry unless you have a good reason, for example you were unable to return to the UK in that time.

Upon reading the link again, i think I have mixed up two things:

Biometric Residence Card (BRC), which is what my wife has

and Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which is what my link above refers to (unless they are one of the same thing!?)

After doing research, I understand that my options are limited to applying to one of the following:

- EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family Permit (Free to apply)

Correct. The above is the recommended course of action. Probably your only choice.

I guess I will crack on with applying for the EUSS Family Permit and report back on here with the timelines.



Also - I was thinking as a possible other option,if my wife was to travel back to the UK before her Residence Card expired, then made an application to change her BRC to one issued under EUSS rules, submitted the application online and did all the biometrics etc., then flew back out here and when the card eventually arrived, got someone from our household to post it out to her here so she could use it to return to the UK - would that be something worth considering? Or is that something likely to be against the rules?

Thanks again

mradam wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:43 pm

Upon reading the link again, i think I have mixed up two things:

Biometric Residence Card (BRC), which is what my wife has

and Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which is what my link above refers to (unless they are one of the same thing!?)

Yes, that's it. BRP is UK Tier system. BRC is the old EEA card, so not the same thing. Your wife has BRC.

Also - I was thinking as a possible other option, if my wife was to travel back to the UK before her Residence Card expired,

I thought this was not an option for you, hence why I didn't suggest this, but yes this would be a clear easy option.

then made an application to change her BRC to one issued under EUSS rules, submitted the application online and did all the biometrics etc., then flew back out here and when the card eventually arrived, got someone from our household to post it out to her here so she could use it to return to the UK - would that be something worth considering? Or is that something likely to be against the rules?

Thanks again

Does she actually need to travel back? There are a two caveats on doing this:
1. Some countries don't allow posting documents by post.
2. Her new card might take months to be issued. Mine took over 4 months.

Also - I was thinking as a possible other option, if my wife was to travel back to the UK before her Residence Card expired,

I thought this was not an option for you, hence why I didn't suggest this, but yes this would be a clear easy option.

Its probably not a realistic option - going by what I've read on other threads it seems that after applying the date to do the biometrics takes about another month then after that the card could take any number of months so there seems to be too many unknowns in terms of time scale, with the posibility that my wife would be stranded abroad waiting for the card to arrive

then made an application to change her BRC to one issued under EUSS rules, submitted the application online and did all the biometrics etc., then flew back out here and when the card eventually arrived, got someone from our household to post it out to her here so she could use it to return to the UK - would that be something worth considering? Or is that something likely to be against the rules?

Thanks again

Does she actually need to travel back? There are a two caveats on doing this:
1. Some countries don't allow posting documents by post.
2. Her new card might take months to be issued. Mine took over 4 months.

Yes she would need to travel back - but again this options has too many uncertainties, time scale, documents potentially being lost in the post etc. - I think will probably go with applying through the EUSS Family Permit

Hi

Is anyone know is there priority visa service available for euss family permit visa?

mradam wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 05, 2021 8:04 pm

Also - I was thinking as a possible other option, if my wife was to travel back to the UK before her Residence Card expired,

I thought this was not an option for you, hence why I didn't suggest this, but yes this would be a clear easy option.

Its probably not a realistic option - going by what I've read on other threads it seems that after applying the date to do the biometrics takes about another month then after that the card could take any number of months so there seems to be too many unknowns in terms of time scale, with the posibility that my wife would be stranded abroad waiting for the card to arrive

then made an application to change her BRC to one issued under EUSS rules, submitted the application online and did all the biometrics etc., then flew back out here and when the card eventually arrived, got someone from our household to post it out to her here so she could use it to return to the UK - would that be something worth considering? Or is that something likely to be against the rules?

Thanks again

Does she actually need to travel back? There are a two caveats on doing this:
1. Some countries don't allow posting documents by post.
2. Her new card might take months to be issued. Mine took over 4 months.

Yes she would need to travel back - but again this options has too many uncertainties, time scale, documents potentially being lost in the post etc. - I think will probably go with applying through the EUSS Family Permit

please check this link below its explains every things there is option for those people whose BRC has expired or lost/stolen outside uk and hold status under euss settlement scheme to apply for EUSS travel permit from outside uk.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... ermits.pdf

Jesus Christ is Lord wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 15, 2021 3:09 am

please check this link below its explains every things there is option for those people whose BRC has expired or lost/stolen outside uk and hold status under euss settlement scheme to apply for EUSS travel permit from outside uk.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... ermits.pdf

As far as I can tell, it looks like the application for Travel Permit is the same as for Family Permit (both fall under rule FP4), the only difference is that what they are issued is called Travel Permit, but the applicant won't do anything different. It's up to the case worker to decide which one to give (Family Permit or Travel Permit, depending on which criteria the applicant meets: under rules FP6(1),(2) or FP6(3)).

But anyone with first-hand experience with Travel Permits kindly correct or confirm this.

if only entry clearance is needed for airlines, why tourist visa is not an option ?
we were in this situation, we considered both BRC visa and EUSS family permit, ended up going with EUSS family permit, after that I was wondering why we didn't consider simply a tourist visa(if it's a valid option),
if tourist visa is a valid option , and we would go through this again, we may consider it for these reasons:
it comes with an estimated time, unlike EUSS permit where there is no estimates or clear deadline for escalation, it took us 4 months and we were completely in the dark in that time specially that we were not expecting these issues,

ashd wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 16, 2021 11:22 am

if only entry clearance is needed for airlines, why tourist visa is not an option ?

You have to pay for that. Whilst Travel Permit and Family Permit are Free.

Also, the regulation keeps changing, and I remember in the past you could not apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if on a visitor visa. I think they have changed this, but that was a major thing last year, and it is important to keep in mind.

Lastly, at least for extended family members, at some point it was also necessary to hold EU/EEA issued documentation to be able to apply for any EU/EEA route.

I'm sorry I'm giving vague references, this is not intended to address any particular case, but just give a general picture of why sometimes it's not as straightforward. One should always apply for the visa that actually describes one's situation. A tourist visa is a tricky choice if one's intention is to stay, since technically speaking one is doing the one thing one is not allowed to do on a tourist visa: Stay.

we were in this situation, we considered both BRC visa and EUSS family permit, ended up going with EUSS family permit, after that I was wondering why we didn't consider simply a tourist visa(if it's a valid option),

if tourist visa is a valid option , and we would go through this again, we may consider it for these reasons:
it comes with an estimated time, unlike EUSS permit where there is no estimates or clear deadline for escalation, it took us 4 months and we were completely in the dark in that time specially that we were not expecting these issues,

Sadly, nowadays the timeline of FP and TP is the biggest drawback (it was not the case before covid, they used to be quite fast). But sometimes it is the only option. Every case is different.