EEA Family member visa, EEA spouse became British

[seraax]

Hello everyone,
First of all I want to say thank you very much for your time and help.

Here is my situation:
• I got married in the UK to EEA citizen in July 2011
• Granted EEA family member visa in October 2011
• My spouse became British in December 2013
• In July 2016 will be 5 years since we are married

I have couple of questions:
1. Can I actually apply for naturalisation in July this year or I need to get ILR first?
2. In regards to financial requirements, do I need to earn at least £18600 or there is no minimum income my spouse or I have to have?

I’ve read the forum quite a bit and it is very confusing, I’ll appreciate a lot if someone could explain what further steps I need to take in order to get British passport.

Best regards

S

[noajthan]

Hello everyone,
First of all I want to say thank you very much for your time and help.

Here is my situation:
• I got married in the UK to EEA citizen in July 2011
• Granted EEA family member visa in October 2011
• My spouse became British in December 2013
• In July 2016 will be 5 years since we are married

I have couple of questions:
1. Can I actually apply for naturalisation in July this year or I need to get ILR first?
2. In regards to financial requirements, do I need to earn at least £18600 or there is no minimum income my spouse or I have to have?

I’ve read the forum quite a bit and it is very confusing, I’ll appreciate a lot if someone could explain what further steps I need to take in order to get British passport.

Best regards

S

By EEA family member visa do you mean you have an EU Residence Card (RC)

If so then, as per the McCarthy transitional arrangement (put in place in 2012), your BC spouse can still be considered an EEA national.

So you can apply under EU route if spouse has been exercising treaty rights continuously for the 5 years.
For example, in your case, in or after July 2016.

1) Note By taking EU route you will have to apply for a confirmation of PR card first - not ILR, (due to a rule change last November) before shooting for the privilege of citizenship.

As you are now married to a BC there is no need to hold PR for 12 months before applying to naturalise; (when all other requirements for naturalisation can be/have been met)

2) No need to meet any of the UK financial requirements under this EU route.

[seraax]

Hi noajthan, thanks very much for your reply.

By EEA family member visa do you mean you have an EU Residence Card (RC)

1) Note By taking EU route you will have to apply for a confirmation of PR card first

1. I have “Residence card of a Family member of an EEA national”. Is that what I need? If so, can I apply for a confirmation of PR card now or I have to wait until July, or October?

you can apply under EU route if spouse has been exercising treaty rights continuously for the 5 years.

2. My spouse has been working in the UK continuously for 5 years and we can provide P60s for each year. Unfortunately, I cannot do the same for myself. Is that not going to affect my case? We haven’t claimed any sort of state benefits whatsoever.

Best regards,

S

[noajthan]

Hi noajthan, thanks very much for your reply.

By EEA family member visa do you mean you have an EU Residence Card (RC)

1) Note By taking EU route you will have to apply for a confirmation of PR card first

1. I have “Residence card of a Family member of an EEA national”. Is that what I need? If so, can I apply for a confirmation of PR card now or I have to wait until July, or October?

you can apply under EU route if spouse has been exercising treaty rights continuously for the 5 years.

2. My spouse has been working in the UK continuously for 5 years and we can provide P60s for each year. Unfortunately, I cannot do the same for myself. Is that not going to affect my case? We haven’t claimed any sort of state benefits whatsoever.

Best regards,

S

1) Good, so my understanding is you can remain on EU route as per the McCarthy transitional arrangement.

You can apply for confirmation of PR once you have 5 years in UK, if your sponsor has proof of 5 years of exercising treaty rights in UK (& you have been married, to each other, all that time).

Make sure you quote the McCarthy transitional arrangement in your application so that spouse continues to be treated as an EEA national.

fyi - ref HO guidance on this critical matter:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
- see page 45

2) Your spouse is your sponsor.

In the context of EU immigration, it doesn't actually matter what you have been doing in UK (as long as its legal).

The proof of exercising treaty rights comes from your sponsor/spouse.
You just have to prove your identity, your marital relationship & your residence in UK.

[seraax]

Great, thank you very much noajthan, you are extremely helpful!

You can apply for confirmation of PR once you have 5 years in UK

Just to clarify last thing, I've been in relationship with my spouse and in the UK for over 5 years, so do I need to wait until our actual 5 years marriage anniversary in July before I can apply for PR or I can apply for PR now and in July for naturalisation?

Best wishes,

S

[noajthan]

Just to clarify last thing, I've been in relationship with my spouse and in the UK for over 5 years, so do I need to wait until our actual 5 years marriage anniversary in July before I can apply for PR or I can apply for PR now and in July for naturalisation?

Best wishes,

S

Yes, you must wait for your 5th wedding anniversary as you will be applying on the basis of being the direct family member of your spouse.

As you are on EU route, you can no longer apply to naturalise without a PR card.

Once you have confirmation of PR (assuming successful) you could immediately apply for citizenship, on basis of having a BC spouse.
(Assuming all requirements are met).

if you were not married to BC you would have to wait an additional 12 months.

[seraax]

assuming successful

Fingers crossed then!

Thank you noajthan, best wishes to you and your family

[seraax]

1) Good, so my understanding is you can remain on EU route as per the McCarthy transitional arrangement.

You can apply for confirmation of PR once you have 5 years in UK, if your sponsor has proof of 5 years of exercising treaty rights in UK (& you have been married, to each other, all that time).

Make sure you quote the McCarthy transitional arrangement in your application so that spouse continues to be treated as an EEA national.

fyi - ref HO guidance on this critical matter:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
- see page 45

2) Your spouse is your sponsor.

In the context of EU immigration, it doesn't actually matter what you have been doing in UK (as long as its legal).

The proof of exercising treaty rights comes from your sponsor/spouse.
You just have to prove your identity, your marital relationship & your residence in UK.

Hello there,

I am just about to apply for my PR confirmation, just wanted to check if everything above is still up to date and there were no changes for my case.

As always, I really appreciate your time and help, thank you!

S

[noajthan]

Hello there,

I am just about to apply for my PR confirmation, just wanted to check if everything above is still up to date and there were no changes for my case.

As always, I really appreciate your time and help, thank you!

S

Hello again - happy anniversary,

I can't tell if your circumstances have changed (sponsor, marriage).
Of course Brexit has popped up on the radar.

The information above holds good and should do so for, say, another 2 years;
that is, at least until whenever it is that the final Brexit exit occurs.

[Richard W]

I am just about to apply for my PR confirmation, just wanted to check if everything above is still up to date and there were no changes for my case.

Please let us know how your application fares. We don't seem to have any examples of what happens in cases like yours, where the sponsor acquires British nationality after 2012 and before the family member acquires PR.

[seraax]

Hello again - happy anniversary

The information above holds good and should do so for, say, another 2 years;
that is, at least until whenever it is that the final Brexit exit occurs.

Hello noajthan thank you very much! Time flies, hopefully everything will go according to plan.

Please let us know how your application fares.

Hello Richard, I will definitely keep this post updated.

Make sure you quote the McCarthy transitional arrangement in your application so that spouse continues to be treated as an EEA national.

Does anyone have an example how to include this in the application please?

[seraax]

Hello everyone!

noajthan, thank you so much for your advice! I've received my PR card! Everything went smooth!

Please let us know how your application fares. We don't seem to have any examples of what happens in cases like yours, where the sponsor acquires British nationality after 2012 and before the family member acquires PR.

It took 6 months and 16 days in total.

Here are the details:

14/07/16 - application sent
15/07/16 - received
19/07/16 - money has been taken out

15/08/16 - biometric letter received
19/08/16 - biometric submitted
23/08/16 - confirmation letter received (saying they will make a decision within 6 months)

27/01/17 - documents returned
31/01/17 - card received

Next step is Naturalisation!

Best of luck to Everyone and thanks a lot for all your input!

S

[noajthan]

Congratulations.

Textbook McCarthy. Sounds like caseworker went by the book too.