Wife of EU citizen visiting the UK

[Pete Beale]

My Thai GF will be visiting the UK in a couple of months time as well as visiting her Mum in Germany where she lives with her husband. Her Mum wants to visit us in UK, obviously she could apply for a general visitors visa but I assume that needs to be done in Bangkok and would need a letter of invitation from me. I know there's such a thing as a EEA family permit, but this would require her husband to travel with her. He does want to visit but can only get limited time off work for maybe a long weekend, my GF's Mum would like to stay longer if possible. If they travelled together would she have to leave the UK at the same time as him or could she stay on a bit longer, I'm guessing not.

Any other options ?

[theoldgit]

This might help http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/eea-family-permit/

It seems to me that must either be travelling with the EEA national or joining them in the UK, neither would seem to be the case here, though I don't know if her husband can travel with her and then return, I suspect not legally.

If your girlfriend Mum wanted to visit I suspect she would need a visa, as she is legally resident in Germany she could apply there.

What I don't know is whether her marriage and residency status in Germany would allow her to travel in her own right, does she have a German passport?

[Pete Beale]

She doesn't have a German passport even after spending most of the last 15 years there, apparently they don't hand them out willy-nilly like the UK does. My GF and her Mum think a visa application must be made in Bangkok, not sure if this is the case. If an application could be made in Germany I'm guessing all her documents would need to be translated to English or German.

[theoldgit]

As I read it if she's legally resident in Germany, then she can apply there.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/countries/germany/applying/?langname=UK%20English

[7by7]

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that if she has permanent residence in Germany (or any other EEA state) as the spouse of a German (or any other EEA state) citizen then she does not need a visa of any kind to enter the UK as a visitor; even if she is not travelling with or to join her husband.

[howerde]

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that if she has permanent residence in Germany (or any other EEA state) as the spouse of a German (or any other EEA state) citizen then she does not need a visa of any kind to enter the UK as a visitor; even if she is not travelling with or to join her husband.

I think this is correct, the rules changed recently the uk accepts permanent resident cards from 10 eu countries, i can't find the reference, but Germany was on list.

i can't post link, but look at immigrationboards.com, then go eea forum, look or ask the question, someone will come up with the reference.

Edited February 6, 2014 by howerde

[Pete Beale]

I found this on wiki regarding the EEA family permit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area_Family_Permit

It should be noted, however, that according to article 5, paragraph 2 of the Directive:

2. Family members who are not nationals of a Member State shall only be required to have an

entry visa in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 or, where appropriate, with national

law. For the purposes of this Directive, possession of the valid residence card referred to in Article 10 shall exempt such family members from the visa requirement.

This clearly states that possession of a visa (and of an EEA Family Permit, which is a visa-like document) can only be asked from family members not in possession of a residence card issued by any EEA country or Switzerland. This, unfortunately, is not the case, as the UK asks all non-EEA family members to apply for an EEA Family Permit.

This is due to the faulty incorporation of the Directive by The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, where article 2:

• "residence card" means a card issued to a person who is not an EEA national, in accordance with regulation 17, as proof of the holder's right of residence in the United Kingdom as at the date of issue;
• "permanent residence card" means a card issued to a person who is not an EEA national, in accordance with regulation 18, as proof of the holder's permanent right of residence under regulation 15 as at the date of issue;

Limits the validity of the residence card en lieu of a visa solely to the cards issued by the United Kingdom.

Several complaints have been made to the European Commission, notably Complaint number 2008/4161, as well as petitions have been brought before the European Parliament, notably Petition number 1307/2007 [2], seeking to resolve this problem. Both named documents were brought before the respective bodies by Mr and Mrs Richard Willmer, a UK citizen exercising treaty rights (i.e. working) in Italy and his Russian wife, but who represent many other EEA citizens who cannot reasonably go to the UK because of their non-EEA family member's need for an EEA Family Permit.

It is hoped that soon EEA family members already in possession of a residence card as a family member issued by an EEA state or Switzerland will be able to travel freely to the United Kingdom, as guaranteed by the Directive, without the need to apply for this visa-like document.

So looks like when that was written EEA family members were not permitted to travel freely to the UK, but hopefully things have since changed. I'll do some more investigating.