Looking at the possibility of moving to Germany with my wife and son. He was born in Thailand but has a UK passport. My wife has a chance of a job working in Germany so we are looking at it now.

Just looking for advice on visas etc for my wife. They will be based there while I would be working in London and visit every month for long weekends.

Any help would be much appreciated.

If the job she has lined up pays at least € 37,128 (in 2014) per year, she may receive a "blue card" and can come to Germany.

If she earns more than € 46,400 she will get the card without problems.

If she earns less than € 46,400 but at least € 37,128 she would first have to pass a "Vorrangprüfung", meaning it would first have to be confirmed that there is no other jobseeker with matching qualifications, who is German, an EU citizen or has a work permit for Germany. However, if the job is in the area of math, sciences, engineering, IT (so called shortage-jobs), then there will be no Vorrangprüfung and a yearly income of € 37,128 is sufficient.

If she does not earn that much she could try to get a residence permit through her son analog to the Chen case, but I don't know, whether she could then also get a work permit.

I suggest you ask in this board: http://www.info4alien.de/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi

To add to the above, she could not use the EEA regulations to move to Germany as spouse of an EEA national exercising his freedom of movement rights if you are living and working in the UK.

I'm not sure if she would qualify under the Chen ruling as she would need to be the primary carer of your son. It could be argued by the German authorities that you are.

EUN05 - Primary Carers of EEA minor children ('Chen' cases) is the guidance to UK ECOs on the matter. I can't say for sure, but as this is EU law expect that the German guidance is similar.

How would it work if we went to Germany as a family together first, so she could get the freedom of movements right. Then after a month or so I left.

Her right to move freely around the EEA and to reside in an EEA country is dependant upon you; if you left Germany then she would no longer have any right to live there.

Unless she qualified to do so under the Chen ruling or the German immigration rules.

If you live and work in the UK, why don't she and your son want to live in the UK with you?

Her right to move freely around the EEA and to reside in an EEA country is dependant upon you; if you left Germany then she would no longer have any right to live there.

Unless she qualified to do so under the Chen ruling or the German immigration rules.

If you live and work in the UK, why don't she and your son want to live in the UK with you?

It is strange that the wife and child want to move to Germany, and the father will stay and work in his home country (UK).

But it is of course not our business, it is entirely a decision matter of husband and wife to decide where to go and where to work, and the husband as stated will visit his family in Germany as often as he can, but it may eventually have negative family effects.

The reason being my wife has a job opportunity in Germany and I do not. I am currently out of work and I will get a job in the UK far easier than I would in Germany.

Then, as you probably know, you could not meet the financial requirements for your wife to obtain a UK settlement visa.

Have you considered moving to Germany yourself to find work?

If you are living in another EEA state then your wife could join you there under the EEA regulations; even if you are unemployed as long as you are actively seeking work.

Once you have found work there, employed or self employed, and you have lived together there for at least three months whilst you are working, she can then use the EEA regulations to come to the UK.

This is known as the Surinder Singh route.

This means you would not have to meet the financial requirements for settlement under the UK immigration rules; though you would need to show that she could be accommodated and supported without access to most public funds.

Thanks for the replies.

I have no intention of taking my family to live in the UK.