wife has just been granted permanent residents in uk.. advice

[kranuan]

my wife has been granted PR. she has been here in uk under EEA residence , married to eea family member. i have a couple of questions if you guys can help me.

can she now travel anywhere in europe / world on her thai passport? she understands she cannot stay outside uk for more than 2 years or she may lose her rights.

does she need a shenghen visa to travel to europe ?

can she now apply for a UK passport ? if not then when can she apply or what is the next step for naturalisation.

she has been granted PR for 10 years.

our kid recently joined us here in uk under EEA permit, does child now automatically gain PR or do we apply for childs 5 year residence stamp ?

thanks for any advice in advance

[bobrussell]

Nope! She will need a Schengen visa to visit Europe (should be free if travelling with spouse!).

Nope! She will need a visa for any country that requires Thai passport holders to apply for visas. As she is a permanent resident of the UK she should be able to apply from the UK! Having permanent residence in the UK should help smooth the path a bit!

Permanent residence means permanent! The actual biometric card has a 10 year renewal requirement. I assume your wife has indefinite leave to remain. There is a good pinned thread on the main visas and migration to other countries page.

Edited January 21, 2014 by bobrussell

[howerde]

Your wife will have to wait another year for naturaliastion.

Permanent residence under eea rules is much the same as ilr, so yes if she is outside the uk for over 2 years she will likely lose it.(it'snot really permanent)

i'm not sure about your kid though, but once your wife has naturalised, she can not use the eea route, so not sure what happens to any dependants still using eea route, worht checking out.

And she will need a schengen visa for europe, but the republic of ireland will accept.

[kranuan]

thanks,

she is looking towards naturalisation, that is the important step for her. she wants to travel freely .

[redcardave]

Your wife will have to wait another year for naturaliastion.

Permanent residence under eea rules is much the same as ilr, so yes if she is outside the uk for over 2 years she will likely lose it.(it'snot really permanent)

i'm not sure about your kid though, but once your wife has naturalised, she can not use the eea route, so not sure what happens to any dependants still using eea route, worht checking out.

And she will need a schengen visa for europe, but the republic of ireland will accept.

hi what is a schengen visa for europe.

thanks

[howerde]

A schengen visa is basically a single visa that is good for travelling in Europe, so no need to apply to every country you want to visit, the uk and ireland are not in this scheme. you would apply at the embassy of the country where you are planning to holiday, ie going to spain for 2 weeks apply to spanish embassy, but the visa would be good for travelling through france to get there and other eu countrys, or just apply for a visa for the first country you enter. thats is in simple terms, hope it helps