Status of non-EU family member of an EU national in the UK

Dear all

I hope I can find some answers from the immigration law-savvy subscribers of this forum...I am keen to understand what happens to non-EU family members of an EEA/EU national, who are currently residing in the UK with an EEA family member permit, when that EEA national becomes naturalised? To give you a bit more detail:

• I am an EU national and I got my document certifying PR end of January 2016.
• My partner is non-EU/EEA; we got married in July 2013 and he applied for his EEA family member permit shortly after; he got it in November 2013; it is valid until mid November 2018. Prior to that he was on a student visa.
• I want to submit an application for naturalisation to secure my status in the UK post-Brexit but I understand that the moment I become naturalised, I lose my right to sponsor my partner under the EEA rules - I will be treated as a UK citizen and will need to comply with UK immigration laws i.e. I will no longer benefit from EEA rules on family members.

My questions are as follows:

1. Would my partner be asked to leave after I become naturalised? If so, how soon after?

2. Would he need to apply from outside the UK for the so called UK Spouse Visa and how long would it take? If he switches to a UK spouse visa, would the 3 years he already spent in the UK under EEA rules count towards his permanent residence application later on? (i.e. can we combine time spent under EEA rules + time under UK spouse visa)

3. Thinking strategically, should I hold off with my naturalisation application until November 2018 to enable my partner to apply for a PR as family member of an EU national (unless rules change before that because of Brexit - is this likely)?

If he gets PR, should I then proceed to apply for naturalisation, or should I still wait as my naturalisation may invalidate his PR status under EEA rules? Am keen to apply for naturalisation before the formal UK exit from the EU, which is likely to happen by end of 2018/early 2019, but don’t want to jeopardise my partner’s chances of naturalisation / permanent residence at the same time. He will be able to apply for naturalisation towards the end of 2019.

Does anyone have a view on the issues above? What is the most efficient way for us to secure our future in the UK?

Thanks a lot!

TheFourSeasons wrote:Dear all

...

My questions are as follows:

1. Would my partner be asked to leave after I become naturalised? If so, how soon after?

2. Would he need to apply from outside the UK for the so called UK Spouse Visa and how long would it take? If he switches to a UK spouse visa, would the 3 years he already spent in the UK under EEA rules count towards his permanent residence application later on? (i.e. can we combine time spent under EEA rules + time under UK spouse visa)

3. Thinking strategically, should I hold off with my naturalisation application until November 2018 to enable my partner to apply for a PR as family member of an EU national (unless rules change before that because of Brexit - is this likely)?

If he gets PR, should I then proceed to apply for naturalisation, or should I still wait as my naturalisation may invalidate his PR status under EEA rules? Am keen to apply for naturalisation before the formal UK exit from the EU, which is likely to happen by end of 2018/early 2019, but don’t want to jeopardise my partner’s chances of naturalisation / permanent residence at the same time. He will be able to apply for naturalisation towards the end of 2019.

Does anyone have a view on the issues above? What is the most efficient way for us to secure our future in the UK?

Thanks a lot!

1) Not as a direct consequence of naturalising. HO is not that joined up or proactive.
So no SWAT team will come and smash down your frontdoor and drag your spouse off.

But once the EU unit of HO is aware your dependent has no EEA sponsor anymore (eg on their next application for something) then spouse may be invited to leave if they have no other basis on which to remain in UK.
(Any children in the family unit may mitigate that risk but is not guaranteed to do so).

2) Yes, apply from outside UK.
Not sure about status of the previous time served; stand by for others to comment

3) Suggest hold off if you can.
- its probably a case of who blinks first, you or UK government/HO.

As per rule changes, who can tell - all bets are off now.

In the meantime a valid RC may be worthwhile investment for spouse in case of any transitional arrangement that may be put into place.

As to value of PR status once Brexit looms - who knows.
Again, one would hope that the traditional British sense of fair play would come to the fore, (perhaps in the shape of equitable transitional arrangements).

I think once the EU citizen becomes a British citizen, the partner will be entitled to apply for British citizenship as well after 3 years of marriage.

Manchester171 wrote:I think once the EU citizen becomes a British citizen, the partner will be entitled to apply for British citizenship as well after 3 years of marriage.

Unfortunately that's not how it works.

noajthan wrote:3) Suggest hold off if you can.
- its probably a case of who blinks first, you or UK government/HO.

Seems best for now.

As Obie concluded, FLR(M) will probably fail because of partner's lack of leave under the Immigration rules.

This topic is not a general agony aunt column on Brexit and was straying well away from the OP's initial question; that is a concern as it does not help the OP one bit.

Thank you Vinny for getting things back on track.

Indianlonly wrote:What about non EU who is seciure with PR and lived in UK over 6 years ?

This topic is not a general agony aunt column on Brexit and is again straying well away from the OP's initial question; that is a concern as it does not help the OP one bit.

Hi everyone

Thanks for your replies. Just fyi - I have also consulted an immigration lawyer. I was advised to hold off with naturalisation application until my partner is eligible to apply for permanent residence. Otherwise, he does have to leave the country and apply for UK spouse visa. If he goes the UK spouse visa route, he also loses all the years he has spent in the UK under EEA rules as these cannot be combined with years spent under UK immigration regime.

The lawyer also advised to submit a joint application for naturalisation with my partner after he gets his permanent residence as he won't have to serve the 12 month period - his application would be subject to the approval of mine, which means that if mine goes through he will be treated as a partner of a UK citizen and will not have to wait for 12 months before he applies for naturalisation.

Hope the above is helpful to others in my situation.

Many thanks

The lawyer is clearly wrong. You spouse cannot qualify under Section 6 (2) unless on the date of applicatoon you are a British national. Apart from that, I agree with their other advise.