EEA Family Permit/Residence Card

[UlsterMan]

I live and work in Northern Ireland and hold both a British Passport and an Irish Passport - dual Nationality.

Therefore, if my understanding is correct, I can exercise my EEA Treaty Rights due to the fact that I am an EEA National, based on my Irish Passport.

It is my intention to get married at Easter to my Non-EEA National (Kenyan) fiance. Afterwhich I will be applying for an EEA Family Permit, followed by a Residence Card.

However, there are a number of questions I would like to ask the forum for clarification on regarding the EEA Family Permit and Residence Card, some of which are relevent in the light of my furture wife and I's circumstances.

1. Can my wife use the EEA Family Permit for multiple entries to visit me during the six months that it is granted?

2. I have been led to understand that it can take up to six months for an application for a Residence Card to be processed.

In the light of this, if my wife comes to join me in the UK on a six months EEA Family Permit, applies for her Residence Card but does not receive it by the expiry date of the EEA Family Permit (valid for six months also), what happens?

3. Can my wife come to visit me on an EEA Family Permit, apply for a Residence Card, then go back to her country to await the outcome of the Residence Card application?

4. The form used for the EEA Family Permit in Nairobi is NON-SETTLEMENT FORM (VAF1).

As this is a Non-Settlement Form, section 5.1 asks; How long do you intend to stay in the UK?

If my wife answers the question to the effect that she is coming to live with her husband and not coming back to her own country, would this provoke a refusal?

5. In the EEA FAMILY MEMBER CHECKLIST, which I downloaded from http://www.fco.gov.uk, one of the requirments asked for is; 6) Original or legally certified copy of sponsor's EEA Residence Permit.

I've have been living and working in Northern Ireland all my life and of both British and Irish Nationality. Do I now need an EEA Residence Permit myself due to the fact that I am exercising my Treaty Rights based on my Irish Passport?

Many thanks for any light anyone can shed on these questions

UlsterMan.

[Wanderer]

Why not go for the normal Fiancee via route?

That way ur missus will get ILR in two years and nationality in three rather than five on the EEA Family Permit.

I may have misunderstood sth in ur case but it does seem the EEA Family Permit has achieved some sort of 'cult status' in international relationships when half the time there's no need for one!

[UlsterMan]

Thanks for the reply.

I am aware of the other routes, but in the light of my future wife and I's circumstances, the EEA Family Permit is the only option.

Many thanks.

[JAJ]

I am aware of the other routes, but in the light of my future wife and I's circumstances, the EEA Family Permit is the only option.

Why?

[UlsterMan]

The reasons are confidential and not open for discussion on an open forum.

Many thanks.

[JAJ]

The reasons are confidential and not open for discussion on an open forum.

Of course. But in that case you can't really expect meaningful advice from same forum when you choose to withold potentially critical information.

Best advice is to find a good immigration lawyer for a private consultation.

[John]

UlsterMan, you are perfectly at liberty to decline to post information publicly .... that is your right .... but I am struggling to think of circumstances where an EEA Family Permit would definitely be issued and a standard 2-year spouse visa would definitely not be issued.

But having said that you are at liberty to exercise your Treaty Rights and thus your wife (as she will be) can apply using your Irish citizenship.

[Wanderer]

Sounds like Ulstermans wife might well be out of the country for most of a two year spouse visa and not qualify for ILR?

I dunno if an EEA Permit helps here with sporadic visits and ultimately residence despite being mostly out of country.

I dunno - what are the requirements for residency on EEA permot after five years?

[JAJ]

Sounds like Ulstermans wife might well be out of the country for most of a two year spouse visa and not qualify for ILR?

I dunno if an EEA Permit helps here with sporadic visits and ultimately residence despite being mostly out of country.

I dunno - what are the requirements for residency on EEA permot after five years?

European Casework Instructions are here:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ecis/

Long breaks from the UK would affect eligibility for permanent residence. And it might be the case that the Home Office would begin to question whether a genuine marriage relationship existed if there were long separation periods.

[UlsterMan]

Many thanks for all your comments, but I really joined this forum to get a few straight answers to a few straight questions, regardless of any personal circumstances. A full casework on any future application I would make on an open forum is not in my best interests.

However, as my case is not as sinister as some of the comments have tried to suggest, I will shed a little light on some of our personal circumstances and why I posed the questions I did.

1. My choice of going down the EEA Family Permit route is down to pure common sense. Take a look at the following site, http://www.lawcentreni.org/Publications ... tation.htm, with reference to section 2. PROCEDURAL COMPARISON.
Now who in their right mind, if they were in my unique position (dual nationality), would not go down this route.

2. My wifes occupation, radiologic technologist, requires a significant amount of notice if resigning from her post. Also, as she has been studying, she was to complete a masters degree early this year, but the completion time is uncertain due to a strike last year by University Lecturers.

3. Our wedding plans have been made many months ago and a significant amount of money would be lost if we were to change them.

Many thanks

UlsterMan.

[JAJ]

1. My choice of going down the EEA Family Permit route is down to pure common sense. Take a look at the following site, http://www.lawcentreni.org/Publications ... tation.htm, with reference to section 2. PROCEDURAL COMPARISON.
Now who in their right mind, if they were in my unique position (dual nationality), would not go down this route.

Have you considered the longer period of time required to get Permanent Residence this way?

[Wanderer]

Many thanks for all your comments, but I really joined this forum to get a few straight answers to a few straight questions, regardless of any personal circumstances. A full casework on any future application I would make on an open forum is not in my best interests.

However, as my case is not as sinister as some of the comments have tried to suggest, I will shed a little light on some of our personal circumstances and why I posed the questions I did.

1. My choice of going down the EEA Family Permit route is down to pure common sense. Take a look at the following site, http://www.lawcentreni.org/Publications ... tation.htm, with reference to section 2. PROCEDURAL COMPARISON.
Now who in their right mind, if they were in my unique position (dual nationality), would not go down this route.

2. My wifes occupation, radiologic technologist, requires a significant amount of notice if resigning from her post. Also, as she has been studying, she was to complete a masters degree early this year, but the completion time is uncertain due to a strike last year by University Lecturers.

3. Our wedding plans have been made many months ago and a significant amount of money would be lost if we were to change them.

Many thanks

UlsterMan.

Thanks for responding Ulsterman, stops us guessing and really we want to help, not be nosy!

The page u quoted won't open for me but really ur dual nationality is not unique, I have it (or can have it due to Irish grandparent) and even further I'd say as you are not currently (or don't appear to be) the EEA permit offers no advantages at all for any situation other than it's free. Or for someone exercising their Treaty Rights spirit of the right, ie those working/living essentially away from home where they cannot easily use the UK visa process.

Wait for others tho - i'm no expert but I can say we considered the EEA route and rejected it in favour of the UK one...

steve

[JAJ]

The page u quoted won't open for me but really ur dual nationality is not unique, I have it (or can have it due to Irish grandparent) and even further I'd say as you are not currently (or don't appear to be) the EEA permit offers no advantages at all for any situation other than it's free.

This should work:
http://www.lawcentreni.org/Publications ... tation.htm

[John]

My choice of going down the EEA Family Permit route is down to pure common sense.

As long as the point validity being made by JAJ ... "Have you considered the longer period of time required to get Permanent Residence this way?" ... is not important.

Whilst your wife is entitled to apply for Irish Citizenship after 3 years living in Ireland (north or south) they are extremely slow in dealing with such applications. Whereas coming on a UK spouse visa would lead to British Citizenship being applied for after three years, and granted in about four months.

[Wanderer]

I got the link now thanks JAJ, the dot at the end got me!

Are there not some errors in that page, ie the FLR fees being 155 quid and is it true the EEA permit is granted so easily without tests, over the counter as it says?

[JAJ]

Are there not some errors in that page, ie the FLR fees being 155 quid and is it true the EEA permit is granted so easily without tests, over the counter as it says?

Fees may be out of date. As for the EEA Family Permit being granted "over the counter", no I don't believe that as the Entry Clearance Officer must still judge on a few things, notably whether there is a subsisting relationship. And spouse visas are usually granted in a few days. So it's not necessarily quicker.

I have to say that I get the impression that this website is trying to "push" the EEA option more than is justified. That might be the reason the permit is getting its "cult status".

[John]

JAJ, in Ulster that might have a bit more credence than in other parts of the UK, where someone has dual British and Irish citizenship, given that Irish citizenship can be applied for after living in Ulster (or anywhere in the island of Ireland) for 3 years. That is significantly better than for us in England, Scotland or Wales.

[JAJ]

JAJ, in Ulster that might have a bit more credence than in other parts of the UK, where someone has dual British and Irish citizenship, given that Irish citizenship can be applied for after living in Ulster (or anywhere in the island of Ireland) for 3 years. That is significantly better than for us in England, Scotland or Wales.

As you noted, the Irish are very slow to process naturalisation applications, and that this ought not to be relied upon as a substitute for becoming a British citizen.

Only those married to Irish citizens can use residence in Northern Ireland (a more "correct" term than "Ulster", most of the time) as a basis for naturalisation. This option is not available if the spouse is only a British citizen.

It's worth noting that some British people in Northern Ireland have no entitlement to Irish citizenship (eg naturalised Britons, and those who have migrated from other parts of the United Kingdom). And many of those who do have such entitlement have no real desire to obtain the necessary Irish passport, for obvious political reasons.

The other quirk in all of this is that a person living in Northern Ireland on an EEA Permit may be able to apply for naturalisation at the British Embassy in Dublin after living in Northern Ireland for 3 years (the "ppron method"). Although this is not yet proven to work, and is only possible where the spouse is a British citizen.