Requirement for job if husband gets residency card

[jen93]

Hi - I am new to the forum and it seem like everyone here has a lot of great info to share! We currently live in the US (I am a US citizen & also hold a Irish passport due to my mother being from Ireland...automatically making me an EEU citizen.) My husband is a US citizen and we are thinking about moving over to the UK next year. Can he apply for a residency card before we get there or do we have to wait until we have an address there? Does the residency card entitle him to be eligible to gain employment over there without a work visa (he would have the same privileges as I would)? He holds a nursing degree (BSN) as well as a MBA (currently is in management at a hospital here). He would like to get a job prior to going over there...possibly in healthcare management (not actual nursing), but I am wondering if we have to get there first, have an address before applying for a residency card.

[Frontier Mole]

You have to show you are exercising your EEA treaty rights. If you have a job to go to on arrival then that would get you through the hoop as would a study placement. You can even come as a job seeker but I think you will find that is not the best way to go about it.
The question of work, he will have the same access to work in the UK as you do, therefore no restrictions.

As for getting EEA family permit before entry? As you have not exercised your treaty rights this could be a problem.

[86ti]

As for getting EEA family permit before entry? As you have not exercised your treaty rights this could be a problem.

But the EEA FP is the entrance clearance that one needs before coming to the UK (does an US citizen really need it?). Or do you mean the residence card which can only be applied for after arrival?

[Frontier Mole]

I am talking about entry clearance.
Residence permit once they are here.

US citizen needs EC to come as non EEA spouse of EEA citizen exercising their treaty rights. Can come on a non visa national as a visitor but can not change to a spouse visa under UK regulations.

Case of Metock suggests that this is not the case for EEA citizens under EEA law BUT OP has yet to exercise her treaty rights!

The easy method is to apply for a UK spouse visa, it costs to do this as there is a lovely big fat visa fee unlike the free to use EEA family permit. HOWEVER it is a far easier way to come to the UK if they are not already based here. Also it takes only two years to get status in the UK as to 5 under EEA route.

[86ti]

Sorry, I still don't get it. If we assume that the OP can support themselves and can prove it where would be the problem of getting the entrance clearance? Or do you mean that problems may arise if they'll try to come as job seekers?

[Ben]

It's important to remember that being self-sufficient is also an EU Treaty Right. In addition:

Right of residence for up to three months
1. Union citizens shall have the right of residence on the territory of another Member State for a
period of up to three months without any conditions or any formalities other than the requirement to
hold a valid identity card or passport.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall also apply to family members in possession of a valid
passport who are not nationals of a Member State, accompanying or joining the Union citizen.

So long as the OP can evidence to the British Consulate in the US that she, and her husband, would be able to reside in the UK for up to three months using their own resources, an EEA FP should not be refused.

Of course, in accordance with Article 6 of the Directive (above), a US citizen would be under no obligation to have an EEA FP in any case.