EEA2/EEA4 Marriage help!

[Janey142]

Hello

Sorry it is so long but please see the below email I sent as a request to an immigration lawyer.. I would be grateful for any advice!

Myself and my partner are due to be married in June next year. I am British, he is South African and on an EEA2. His EEA2 is on the basis of his father who is Dutch and living in the UK. My partner was granted EEA2 as he was over 21 but financially dependent on his father (this was resolved with the EEA2, he has been working and self sufficient as this gave him the rights he needed to do so). As long as himself and his father live in the UK and his father exercise treaty rights for 5 years, he automatically gains permanent residency. Due to when he applied for the EEA2, this expires September next year, however his automatic rights started when his father arrived in the UK, February 2014. This means my partner should be automatically permanent from February next year.

My concern is that he won't physically have an EEA4 in time to give notice for the wedding. I hadn't initially thought this would be an issue, hence booking everything for June. I wondered if he was able to provide the appropriate documents i.e the evidence you would provide for an EEA4, this should suffice for the registrar and any immigration queries surrounding whether he has permanency. For example, 5 years p60s for his father and residence evidence for both to show both have been living in the UK.

I would of course want everything to go as smoothly as possible and want to avoid any issues surrounding this. I suppose my question then would be that if we don't have the EEA4 document in time and he still has a valid EEA2, can we still legally give notice?

I should add, my partner has actually been in the country since he was 15 (so more than 10 years) but his mother never registered him here (long story- shes not a great person!) so unknown to him for years he was in a strange limbo of not fitting into any immigration category, because he could only be registered up to age 18 as his mum is British but her birth was registered in Africa so not passed automatically. I just thought it would be worth knowing hes been here for years.

If someone could provide me with some information regarding the situation or how much it would be to get advice that would be great.

[Caravel88]

You can give notice. You can get married.

Hello

Sorry it is so long but please see the below email I sent as a request to an immigration lawyer.. I would be grateful for any advice!

Myself and my partner are due to be married in June next year. I am British, he is South African and on an EEA2. His EEA2 is on the basis of his father who is Dutch and living in the UK. My partner was granted EEA2 as he was over 21 but financially dependent on his father (this was resolved with the EEA2, he has been working and self sufficient as this gave him the rights he needed to do so). As long as himself and his father live in the UK and his father exercise treaty rights for 5 years, he automatically gains permanent residency. Due to when he applied for the EEA2, this expires September next year, however his automatic rights started when his father arrived in the UK, February 2014. This means my partner should be automatically permanent from February next year.

My concern is that he won't physically have an EEA4 in time to give notice for the wedding. I hadn't initially thought this would be an issue, hence booking everything for June. I wondered if he was able to provide the appropriate documents i.e the evidence you would provide for an EEA4, this should suffice for the registrar and any immigration queries surrounding whether he has permanency. For example, 5 years p60s for his father and residence evidence for both to show both have been living in the UK.

I would of course want everything to go as smoothly as possible and want to avoid any issues surrounding this. I suppose my question then would be that if we don't have the EEA4 document in time and he still has a valid EEA2, can we still legally give notice?

I should add, my partner has actually been in the country since he was 15 (so more than 10 years) but his mother never registered him here (long story- shes not a great person!) so unknown to him for years he was in a strange limbo of not fitting into any immigration category, because he could only be registered up to age 18 as his mum is British but her birth was registered in Africa so not passed automatically. I just thought it would be worth knowing hes been here for years.

If someone could provide me with some information regarding the situation or how much it would be to get advice that would be great.

[Janey142]

I’m worried they might say we can’t for some reason

[NikiGio]

For your peace of mind - he can apply for Settled Status as soon as it goes live in March, and by June he should have it (all being well). He'll only need to prove 5-year residency, identity and pass a criminality check.

[Janey142]

For your peace of mind - he can apply for Settled Status as soon as it goes live in March, and by June he should have it (all being well). He'll only need to prove 5-year residency, identity and pass a criminality check.

Thank you so much. We have been dating for years and years and we never wanted our relationship to be the reason for a status. His father is dutch and from February they will have lived in the UK while his dad exercised treaty rights for 5 years. Hence I thought a wedding in June (80 day guests 120 night guests, including family from abroad) should be fine. I really just don't want anything to go wrong so I am anxious

[NikiGio]

His father is dutch and from February they will have lived in the UK while his dad exercised treaty rights for 5 years.

I mean, he could even get his PR application ready and send it off as soon as the 5 years are up in February (not before that) - if you don't want to wait for Settled Status in March.

Best of luck for the wedding

[Janey142]

His father is dutch and from February they will have lived in the UK while his dad exercised treaty rights for 5 years.

I mean, he could even get his PR application ready and send it off as soon as the 5 years are up in February (not before that) - if you don't want to wait for Settled Status in March.

Best of luck for the wedding

I think if you can apply online you can possibly apply up to a month before so we will check this but potentially can have the application in in January. I will have to give marriage notice in March as they can extend your notice period up to 70 days and if we apply closer to the wedding and they do that then they won’t make the decision in time for the wedding. So if it’s not through by March I think we will give notice and explain that the application is in for PR and is unrelated to our relationship and hopefully all will go ok

Thanks

[CR001]

His father is dutch and from February they will have lived in the UK while his dad exercised treaty rights for 5 years.

I mean, he could even get his PR application ready and send it off as soon as the 5 years are up in February (not before that) - if you don't want to wait for Settled Status in March.

Best of luck for the wedding

I think if you can apply online you can possibly apply up to a month before so we will check this but potentially can have the application in in January. I will have to give marriage notice in March as they can extend your notice period up to 70 days and if we apply closer to the wedding and they do that then they won’t make the decision in time for the wedding. So if it’s not through by March I think we will give notice and explain that the application is in for PR and is unrelated to our relationship and hopefully all will go ok

Thanks

He cannot apply a month in advance for PR. The concession is only applicable to applications made under the UK immigration rules, which he is not under.

He must wait till he has the full 5 years residence.

[Janey142]

His father is dutch and from February they will have lived in the UK while his dad exercised treaty rights for 5 years.

I mean, he could even get his PR application ready and send it off as soon as the 5 years are up in February (not before that) - if you don't want to wait for Settled Status in March.

Best of luck for the wedding

I think if you can apply online you can possibly apply up to a month before so we will check this but potentially can have the application in in January. I will have to give marriage notice in March as they can extend your notice period up to 70 days and if we apply closer to the wedding and they do that then they won’t make the decision in time for the wedding. So if it’s not through by March I think we will give notice and explain that the application is in for PR and is unrelated to our relationship and hopefully all will go ok

Thanks

He cannot apply a month in advance for PR. The concession is only applicable to applications made under the UK immigration rules, which he is not under.

He must wait till he has the full 5 years residence.

That’s fine. Even if the documents aren’t through yet when we give notice my main thing
Is being able to show it’s a genuine marriage which hopefully we can do and show that he has the pr application in based on his dad and they won’t question us as a couple.