I want to live in the UK with my partner - how?

[ALKB]

ALKB I appreciate your long post. I don't see what your say to be wrong so we won't be going to Germany anyway. We'll have to go to another country (any suggestions?). I was thinking Austria but I have grandparents living there and I assume that's another no-no. So I don't want any association with anything or anyone regarding relatives/birth/nationality to keep the application clean!

Which then leaves me with a wide variety of countries I don't hold any strong feelings for wanting to move to. I try to think of it as exciting or a mini adventure for 6 months but we've been relocating for the past 2 years and I just want it to end now.

Ireland is popular with these routes. Just the working holiday for my partner is a bit strict (having to apply physically in Japan, high amount of money in the bank). In the maybe pile for now. Probably most appealing due to its proximity and the ease of integration.

Thanks.

Are your grandparents Germans living in Austria or Austrian nationals?

If they are Austrian, you might be Austrian, too, without knowing it! Shows how important it is to talk to parents/grandparents and be interested in things like that before people are gone and documentation is lost and you find yourself in all sorts of potentially strange situations.

If your grandparents are German, then no problem at all, Austria is a lovely country and suitable to exercise treaty rights, lots of jobs in the tourism industry.

If you prefer Sunny and mediterranean, then I'd second Malta.

Have you read through the changes to UK's relationship with the EU in case of a remain vote in the referendum? Cameron is adamant it's all watertight and legally binding the second Britain decides to stay in the EU. The future looks a bit problematic for Surinder Singh applicants...

[Wanderer]

I\m not sure you can claim German or Austrian citizenship from Grandparents, only parents.....

[ALKB]

I\m not sure you can claim German or Austrian citizenship from Grandparents, only parents.....

Austrian nationality law is similar to German nationality law.

If the grandparents are somehow Austrian and didn't naturalise later in life, their children (OP's parent) would be Austrian, too, even if they have no current Austrian passport. This would then pass on that nationality, too.

We don't know any of that, so it would be really important for the OP to talk to his family and find out just how international things are.

[sadmanonatrain]

Thanks for the replies. Apologies for the random bump of this thread.

Yes! Malta does sound pretty good indeed (It has a gaming sector!?), thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely look into it. Shame about the Ireland issues...

To entertain the whole "how many nationalities can I claim" game - My grandparents on my fathers side are German and living in Germany.

On my mothers side my grandfather is Austrian and grandmother is British. No idea what that means for Austria (but again, it's not make or break for me).

I've not read up on the implications on the EU referendum vote to stay vote (the obvious likely outcome). After an incredibly brief skim of a couple of pages on a monster of thread on here couple weeks back about it all, I gathered it wouldn't have a direct effect on this route/movement of EU/UK nationals? (because of courts etc) But I would appreciate in Layman's terms the implications.

Edit: Well if it all goes tits up when does that start? The vote is in the summer right? How quickly can all the changes that would or wouldn't affect this route be implemented?

"1. A residence period of at least three months in the host state is required (para 54)

2. Weekend visits and holidays do not count as residence for this purpose (para 59)

3. Any citizen of the Union can potentially benefit from this right, not just workers and the self-employed

4. During the period of residence family life must have been “created or strengthened” (para 51)

5. Abuse is impermissible (para 58)

The negotiation agreement therefore only reiterates what is already established under European Union case law. It is unclear what the purpose of any clarification actually seeks to achieve." https://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2016/02/22 ... -migration

If it's actually going to be a big problem we have the emergency route of "f*ck it...let's just live in Japan and not deal with this".