Hi any advice would be greatly appreciated. i plan to return to the UK with my wife and stepdaughter after living in France, in my previous topic i got some great responses so thought i would ask a little more. Any help would be very much appreciated.

My job starts in France in October and I have already booked flights and accommodation and sorted the Visas for my wife and stepdaughter to come with me (which was much harder that it should have been due to TLS, the company which process the visas in Thailand)

if anyone is interested in the problems I had sorting the Visas for France with TLS, i don't mind explaining in another thread

They have visas for approximately 5-6 months, my period of work over there. Also does anyone know... Are these visas valid for travel in all european countries or only France?

So what I am confused about are the next steps i need to take. I understand that they need to apply for residence cards in France, but from what I have been reading there are a number of types.... temporary, permanent etc. Does anyone know which one i need to apply for?

Also documents which i might need translating into French before we leave?

And the steps that i need to take after that? So many topics and so much to read, if anyone has a simple step by step guide that would be amazing.

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

1) France is a member of the Schengen Area, which is all EU members except the UK, RoI, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania. The UK and RoI opted out, the other four are obliged to join at some point as a condition of their EU membership.

Of the non EU states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are also members and Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican, although not members of the Schengen Area, do not have border controls with the countries which surround them.

Once one has entered the Schengen area there are no border controls to pass through when travelling from one country to another.

2) I do not know the exact procedure of obtaining residence cards once in France; but under the EEA freedom of movement regulations you and they cannot apply for permanent residence until you have lived there for five years; so it would be temporary residence you apply for.

According to those regulations you do not actually have to apply for residence cards at all; but it is advisable to do so as it will show you to be French residents. Useful for travelling to other Schengen states if challenged.

Also, for the UK Surinder Singh application one of the things you will need to show is that you had transferred the centre of your life to France. Obtaining French residence cards will, IMHO, aid in this

Such applications should, of course, be free.

3) Under the regulations, translations of documents, such as your marriage certificate and your wife's and daughter's birth certificates, into any EEA language should be acceptable. But you know what the French are like! In your position I'd get French ones for them and English ones for use once you are back in the UK. Getting this done in Thailand will be a lot cheaper than doing it in France or the UK.

4) When the time comes, the UK application should be straightforward; should be!

Have a read of:

Apply for an EEA family permit: 6. Surinder Singh

Caseworker guidance for applications under the Surinder Singh route from January 2014

Surinder Singh immigration route

Thanks a lot for your help and useful links. Hopefully everything will work out as planned.