Can partner of FR citizen apply for EEA FP in France?

[knm812]

Hello everyone,

I'm American and I live with my French partner in the UK. I have the 5 year EEA2 which still has several years of validity. If we were to move back to France, would I be able to apply for the EEA family permit in France as I did in the UK, or is this not allowed because he is French and therefore only national visas would apply? We are PACSed, but not married. I noticed the vie privée et familiale visa requires justification of the time lived together in France. We lived in France together for approximately two years (I was on a student visa) before moving to the UK where we've been for 2 years now so we haven't lived together there recently.

So sorry if this has been asked elsewhere and thank you so much for your help!

[secret.simon]

If your French partner has worked or otherwise exercised treaty rights in the UK for a period of time (two years sounds pretty good), you should be able to return with them to France under EU law. This is called the Surinder Singh route.

I am not sure how clearly and/or well France implements the Surinder Singh ECJ judgment (thence the name). Stand by for others with direct experience to comment.

[gokulatti]

Hi, yes you will be able to apply under EU law. It is good that you have PACS, it is the french equivalent of registered partnership, therefore you should fall under primary beneficiary of Directive 2004/38.
I am assuming you got PACS back when you were living in france as a student, at this time your partner is not considered a EU citizen since it is in the home country. However the fact that you both moved to UK and lived there is good enough to trigger surinder singh judgement to take family ties back to home country and therefore now you and your partner should fall under EU law. Just make sure you get all the documents translated.

maybe this helps https://www.service-public.fr/particuli ... oits/F2653

[secret.simon]

It is good that you have PACS, it is the french equivalent of registered partnership, therefore you should fall under primary beneficiary of Directive 2004/38.

Stepping outside the bounds of immigration law for a quick moment. A PACS is very specifically, from what I found on the Internet, not the equivalent of a marriage. It is a limited contract between two people of any gender. Unlike a UK civil partnership, which has all the requirements of marriage and all its duties and responsibilities, a PACS can be dissolved merely by one of the partners marrying somebody else or even by notifying the other partner by letter that it is over (the modern equivalent of the Islamic triple talaq). No divorce proceedings in court required. So, it is more like a certified durable partnership and not the equivalent of a marriage.

So, the OP is not the direct beneficiary of Directive 2004/38/EC, s/he would be an EFM as a durable partner.

That said, having a PACS in place should simplify the documentation side of things.

Some sources:
https://www.frenchentree.com/french-pro ... they-work/

https://bonjourparis.com/archives/marri ... -changing/

http://www.survivefrance.com/t/pacs-vs- ... ns/2592/10
Quote from one of the comments on that page;

If you had not been two Euro citizens, the easiest answer would be ...get married! PACS really does not do much for the non EU partner. Even with marriage I would have to wait ONE YEAR to work! How crazy is that?

[gokulatti]

Yes you are right simon, it is indeed true pacs isn't equivalent to marriage. therefore OP isn't a primary beneficiary. I am sorry to have overlooked that. Regardless, I am sure he does qualify as a partner with a durable relationship as a extended family member.

It should be noted that the extended family members do not posses an automatic right of stay as enjoyed by the primary beneficiaries. The host member state shall only facilitate stay and residence in accordance with ITS national law. this is very important, I believe in accordance to french law pacs should be considered as durable relationship and since he has already lived together with the EU national for more than 1 year in france as well in UK, He should have right of residence.

[knm812]

Thank you so much for your replies!

I had completely overlooked the SS route! For some reason, I thought it was specific to immigrating to England as so many posts/articles are written with that in mind.

Yes, I initially had reservations about applying for the FP/EEA2 in England as the PACS is not even recognised here. However, I had no difficulties during the process so I would imagine I would have less in France where PACS holds legal weight even if it is less than marriage (fingers crossed).

Thank you again for all your help.