Visa To Uk For My Wife - I Am An Eea Citizen (Non-Uk)

[BKKDutchman1]

Thanks for opening! I am a Dutch citizen who moved to London for a new job 9 months ago and recently asked my future wife to marry me. We met when I lived in Thailand for a year and now we are trying to get our marriage planned and her visa sorted. Since I suspect it's even more complicated if you're not a British citizen, I was hoping that there's someone out there with a similar profile who can share the pitfalls and help me on the right track. As such, I have a couple of questions:

- Is there a difference at all between getting a fiance visa first and then changing it to a spouse visa or is it less of a hassle to apply for a marriage visa once we're actually married?

- We are planning to get married in Thailand (with all official documentation and translations etc). Is it more difficult to get the application through than if we got married in the UK?

- Are there any problems for us to be together in the UK because of my residence status in the UK? I thought that I had an automatic permanent settlement status in the UK as a member of the European Union, however I heard through someone else that they had trouble applying due to the fact that he hadn't lived in the UK for 5 years yet. Is there truth to this story? If so, how could I ensure that my wife and I can be together?

Thanks a lot for any feedback!

[7by7]

As an EEA citizen exercising your treaty rights to live and work in another EEA state you have the right for your spouse to join you; whatever their nationality. There is no minimum time you must have lived in the other EEA state, in your case the UK. However, she must be your wife, fiance's don't qualify.

Each member state has their own method of doing this; for the UK she should, once you are married, apply for an EEA Family Permit. You could follow the UK visa route if you choose and have her apply for either a settlement visa as your spouse or fiance; but these are expensive whereas EEA regulations mean that an EEA Family Permit is free.

See EEA family permits and EUN02 - EEA Family permits

[dean999]

I have just done the EEA family permit route for my wife. Very straight forward and like 7 by 7 said it's FREE.

I applied for a settlement visa for my wife about 2 years ago. Very expensive and takes a long time to fill all the paperwork out. Waited 3 months for them to say no.

Got a job in Belgium. Family permit route; which took 3 months to get. (sorry forgot to say i'm from the UK). We have just applied for a family permit to go to the UK for a holiday. Took 8 days from the application being sent to the embassy to it being returned via registard post to are house. All free.

The application is a lot easier for a family permit, less evidence to hand in and hoops to jump through. One other thing as well. Your wife will not have to prove she can speak english with one of those tests or take a medical. TB test.

:jap:

[7by7]

One other thing as well. Your wife will not have to prove she can speak english with one of those tests

Correct.

or take a medical. TB test.

Not correct, I'm afraid. Your wife applied in Belgium (presumably). As the OP's wife is applying in Thailand to come to the UK for more than 6 months she will need a TB certificate. See Tuberculosis testing in Thailand

[dean999]

One other thing as well. Your wife will not have to prove she can speak english with one of those tests

Correct.

or take a medical. TB test.

Not correct, I'm afraid. Your wife applied in Belgium (presumably). As the OP's wife is applying in Thailand to come to the UK for more than 6 months she will need a TB certificate. See Tuberculosis testing in Thailand

Thank you for correcting me on that. I did try to double check my answer but couldn't find that link.

[7by7]

Understand.

Both the UKBA and the UKVAC in Thailand have 'updated' their sites and moved everything. It's taking a while to get used to the new ones and find stuff!

Maybe they don't know the adage; 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

[dean999]

Understand.

Both the UKBA and the UKVAC in Thailand have 'updated' their sites and moved everything. It's taking a while to get used to the new ones and find stuff!

Maybe they don't know the adage; 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'

Oh yeah. I remember reading somewhere, there having one site, instead of having different info on individal sites. Least, if it works we should all be singing of the same sheet. But then you would of thought they would of done that in the first place.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

We submitted two they only took 5 days to process back today for dual nationals.