UK Resident EU citizen marrying USA Citizen

[ludlow06]

Hi,
I am an EU citizen living and working in the UK. I am planning to marry an American citizen who resides in the States.

We are planning to get married in the States and the have her join me in the UK through a marriage visa.

The problem is that 2-3 years ago she was denied entry into the UK and sent back to the USA because at that time she had been living here in the UK as tourist with her ex fiance. So she had been going in and out of the country on a tourist visa. Also, she was planning to get married to her fiance, so they had been working on the papers (forms, certificates etc), and when the denied her entry the police also saw these papers in the suitcase and got probably even more suspicious. So she went back to the States.

What do you think could happen if we get married in the States and then we file for UK spouse visa? If we do everything by the books, providing all the evidence they require, should things work fine?

Or what could be the worst case scenario, would it be that she is denied entry again without any implication for me? Just trying to understand also what the risks are, because in case I'll try to relocate to the States instead...

Thanks much,

[John]

ludlow06, will she qualify for a spouse visa? Or put it another way, do you have PR status? If not sure, how long have you been exercising EU Treaty Rights in the UK? And what is your nationality?

If you do not have PR status, she can't get a spouse visa. However she can apply for an EEA Family Permit, and indeed even if you have PR status you might decide to go down that route, because :-

• the application for an EEA Family Permit is free, and
• as long as it is clear that you are exercising EU Treaty Rights in the UK, she has a right to join you here, irrespective of her UK immigration history.

Even if you have got PR status, and do decide to go down the UK spouse visa route, even with that immigration history, it would probably still be OK.