Surinder Singh via Netherlands now returning to UK

Hi,
I'm a british man working self employed and living in The Netherlands for the last 16 years.
I have a Ukrainian wife (ukraninan passport) with a 5 year residence permit, we have a 3 month old daughter who has a British passport.
We would like to return to the uk and I believe the Surender Singh would be our best option?
What do we need to do, apply for etc
And how can we apply for british citizenship for my wife?
Thanks in advance for any help advice

To avoid confusion & jumbled responses, I have moved your question to its own thread (this one).

Andygoesdutch wrote:Hi,
I'm a british man working self employed and living in The Netherlands for the last 16 years.
I have a Ukrainian wife (ukraninan passport) with a 5 year residence permit, we have a 3 month old daughter who has a British passport.
We would like to return to the uk and I believe the Surender Singh would be our best option?
What do we need to do, apply for etc
And how can we apply for british citizenship for my wife?
Thanks in advance for any help advice

To return to UK and keeping things simple, your wife would be advised to apply for a FP to enter UK.
See https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/surinder-singh

Alternately you can go commando and enter UK like this (if you can board a flight or else travel by ferry/Eurostar):
https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/
- the Dutch-issued RC may also be accepted for entering UK, (not sure).

Once in UK, your wife applies for an optional RC. This demonstrates her right to reside, work, study in UK.
See https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-resid ... ligibility

Note: As a returning SS-er, you as the British sponsor/spouse (& proxy EEA national) no longer has to exercise treaty rights (ie once in UK).

After 5 years residency in UK your wife should have acquired PR. (Wife's activities in the UK are immaterial, as long as legal ofcourse).
This assumes you remain married, wife has no prolonged absences from UK, and there's no Brexit (otherwise who knows...).

Once wife has acquired PR in UK she can apply for a confirmation of PR card.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-pr

Then, once wife has her PR card, she, as the spouse of a BC, can immediately shoot for the privilege of citizenship and the holy grail of British passport.

Note: These are 2 further and separate application procedures, each with their own rules and requirements to be met (and their own timelines).

Don't forget to prepare for the proof of English and also LITUK tests.
Come back in about 4 years or so to see what the latest rules for naturalisation are at the time.

So you can see wife should be British and the proud holder of a British passport in just over 5 or 6 years.

And you thought The Netherlands was bureaucratic!
Good luck.

Hi,
I'm a British man living and working in the Netherlands for the last 16 years,
Myself, my ukraninan wife and child intend to return to the uk via the surrender Singh route,
Will my wife need to wait 3 years or 5 years before she can apply for British Citizenship?
Thanks in advance

Hi,
I'm British and hope to return home to the uk soon with my Ukrainian wife and child via the surrender Singh route.
I've been away for 16 years, will I/we be able to claim any benefits?
Thanks in advance

Five.

Andygoesdutch wrote:Hi,
I'm British and hope to return home to the uk soon with my Ukrainian wife and child via the surrender Singh route.
I've been away for 16 years, will I/we be able to claim any benefits?
Thanks in advance

You will, after passing the HRT:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benef ... -benefits/

PS Welcome back.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply and links, it's very much appreciated.
And yes the Dutch do love a good paper chase so nothing new for me

Andygoesdutch wrote:Hi,
I'm a british man working self employed and living in The Netherlands for the last 16 years.
I have a Ukrainian wife (ukraninan passport) with a 5 year residence permit, we have a 3 month old daughter who has a British passport.
We would like to return to the uk and I believe the Surender Singh would be our best option?
What do we need to do, apply for etc
And how can we apply for british citizenship for my wife?
Thanks in advance for any help advice

How long has your wife been in the Netherlands?

It will be 2 years in September
Your thinking about a dutch passport?

Hi All,
Myself (British Citizen) my Ukrainian wife and our British Daughter born in The Netherlands, recently returned to the UK (less than a week ago) via Surrender Singh and obtained a Family Permit, I Had been working self employed in the Netherlands for the past 16 years and have been married and living with my wife there the last 2 years.
Now we are in the UK I have already started a job but living in temporary accommodation (static caravan) we are keen to apply for a resident card,
Firstly, should we wait until we have a permanent address? Or is it fine to give my parents address?
Secondly, I read somewhere that my wife actually doesn’t need a resident card?
Thirdly, do we really need to again submit all the paperwork to prove centre of life and proof of self employment? We obviously only just did this for the family permit?
Any help tips or advice would be greatly received.
Thanks in advance
Andy

1) You need some address that relates to you.

2) RC is optional; merely confirmatory.

3) Yes. And some fail despite FP.

So should point 3 fail, would the family permit be revoked?

Andygoesdutch wrote:So should point 3 fail, would the family permit be revoked?

Depends on the reason.

Hi all,
Would the fact that I have outstanding taxes in the Netherlands cause a problem for my ukranian wife's UK resident card application via surrender singh ?
Thanks in advance

Posts merged.

Andygoesdutch wrote:Hi all,
Would the fact that I have outstanding taxes in the Netherlands cause a problem for my ukranian wife's UK resident card application via surrender singh ?
Thanks in advance

There is no mention in Directive 2004/38/EC that Andy must promise to pay his taxes.
Although the stability of the Euro may depend on it.

noajthan wrote:

Andygoesdutch wrote:Hi,
I'm a british man working self employed and living in The Netherlands for the last 16 years.
I have a Ukrainian wife (ukraninan passport) with a 5 year residence permit, we have a 3 month old daughter who has a British passport.
We would like to return to the uk and I believe the Surender Singh would be our best option?
What do we need to do, apply for etc
And how can we apply for british citizenship for my wife?
Thanks in advance for any help advice

To return to UK and keeping things simple, your wife would be advised to apply for a FP to enter UK.
See https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/surinder-singh

Alternately you can go commando and enter UK like this (if you can board a flight or else travel by ferry/Eurostar):
https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/
- the Dutch-issued RC may also be accepted for entering UK, (not sure).

Once in UK, your wife applies for an optional RC. This demonstrates her right to reside, work, study in UK.
See https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-resid ... ligibility

Note: As a returning SS-er, you as the British sponsor/spouse (& proxy EEA national) no longer has to exercise treaty rights (ie once in UK).

After 5 years residency in UK your wife should have acquired PR. (Wife's activities in the UK are immaterial, as long as legal ofcourse).
This assumes you remain married, wife has no prolonged absences from UK, and there's no Brexit (otherwise who knows...).

Once wife has acquired PR in UK she can apply for a confirmation of PR card.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-pr

Then, once wife has her PR card, she, as the spouse of a BC, can immediately shoot for the privilege of citizenship and the holy grail of British passport.

Note: These are 2 further and separate application procedures, each with their own rules and requirements to be met (and their own timelines).

Don't forget to prepare for the proof of English and also LITUK tests.
Come back in about 4 years or so to see what the latest rules for naturalisation are at the time.

So you can see wife should be British and the proud holder of a British passport in just over 5 or 6 years.

And you thought The Netherlands was bureaucratic!
Good luck.

We made it here to the uk on a family permit in September.
So no longer exercising my treaty rights would mean what to me exactly? Would there be a more simple process for a residence card? Only I'm a little worried about applying for a resident card because I still owe some taxes in the Netherlands, would this cause problems?
Or is there a better route or solution?
Thanks in advance

Andygoesdutch wrote:We made it here to the uk on a family permit in September.
So no longer exercising my treaty rights would mean what to me exactly? Would there be a more simple process for a residence card? Only I'm a little worried about applying for a resident card because I still owe some taxes in the Netherlands, would this cause problems?
Or is there a better route or solution?
Thanks in advance

It means its your choice if you work or not in UK.

To obtain aUK RC for wife you still need to submit all appropriate evidence from your Netherlands gig.

As intimated (above) there is no good character requirement in EU-related applications (as per EU law). And anyway you are not the applicant for a RC.

Hi all,
Can we submit a certified copy of my British passport with my wife's resident card application? I need to travel in April and am worried I may not get it back in time.
Thanks in advance
Andy

Posts merged.

Needs to be original. Suggest apply after travel.

Is there a time limit to apply within? We arrived end of September on a family permit?

Andygoesdutch wrote:Is there a time limit to apply within? We arrived end of September on a family permit?

No.
RC is optional although useful.

You have to be a qualified person.
RC simply confirms applicant's status - it doesn't confer it.