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Hello. I'm a german national, my wife is non-EEA. When we traveled by Eurostar to UK, we claimed the right to enter the UK, since we're married and trvalling together.

She got a stamp into her passport saying "Leave to enter the UK is hereby given for six months".

What does that stamp mean? Does the stamp grant permission to leave and re-enter the UK for a period of six months?

Thank you

Yes, but as long you exercise EU treaty rights after a three month period of grace, there is no effective limit on her stay. She should apply for a residence card if you intend to remain in the UK as this will make immigration bureaucracy easier when entering and leaving.

Lucapool, thanks for your response.
Am I exercising EU treaty rights simply by traveling with the intention for a short tourist trip?

I just called the UK immigration hotline for 1.37 pound sterling per minute, for a total of 15 minutes (most of the time I was waiting on hold, while the hotline agent was checking information).
Finally, the agent told me, my wife must apply for a Visa or a EEA Family Permit.

Despite asking specifically about the meaning of the stamp, I wasn't given a clear answer about the meaning of the stamp, but was rather told that we must apply for Visa or EEA Family Permit.

My mum got this in 1986, but 3 months. She also had no time limit on her stay. I didn't realise till a month ago it classifies as UK settled (See Page 14, 3.5.1.4, Bullet Point 1: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... apter3.pdf)

I guess the use in my mum's/OP-wife's case to getting ILR/PR afterwards, is to travel and re-enter the UK? Plus any other privileges ILR/PR may give you?

Thanks

In order to be exercising your treaty rights you should be employed, studying or job seeking.

Q: Why is it the OP's wife got a 6 month leave to enter with no time limit on her stay, whereas others get ILE? Is there a reason behind it e.g) time left on passport validity?

FighterBoy wrote:Q: Why is it the OP's wife got a 6 month leave to enter with no time limit on her stay, whereas others get ILE?

EEA citizens and their non-EEA spouses used to get ILE automatically on arrival under rules before October 2000, but ILE/ILR is no longer applicable to EEA citizens and spouses since Directive 2004/38/EC and EEC Regulations 2006 came into force.

They now become eligible for PR (the EEA equivalent of ILR) after the EEA spouse has exercised treaty rights for five years.

I think there is confusion here. Leave to enter for 6 months just means that your partner can visit the UK for 6 months. I take it that you are just visiting the UK, so this is just the stamp that indicates this. It does NOT mean that your partner can leave and enter again without you for a period of 6 months.

If you intend to remain in the UK, for the first 3 months, your partner has the same rights as you do. After that, if you exercise treaty rights, your partner will continue to derive these rights from you. But, I think this is irrelevant to you as you are just visiting, correct?

Leave to Enter for X months doesn't mean you have to leave. See the 2nd post in the thread. There is still no time limit on her stay, unless she has eg) a visitor visa.

I've read Chapter 3 of British Nationality from gov.uk and it says there is ILE and LE with no time limit on stay.

I'm just curious about the two types.

FighterBoy wrote:I've read Chapter 3 of British Nationality from gov.uk and it says there is ILE and LE with no time limit on stay.

Can you provide a link to the resource mentioned above? I'm unable to locate such a document on gov.uk.

ILE typically applies to non-EEA citizens settling in the UK in their own right, not to non-EEA dependants of EEA citizens.

P14: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... apter3.pdf

I think the 2 types are due to the time of validity left on the passport but it's a guess. There's still no time limit on the stay in either case.

Casa wrote:In order to be exercising your treaty rights you should be employed, studying or job seeking.

Casa with respect, I don't think that is the full story, exercising treaty rights can be as simple as making a purchase whilst visiting within the 3 month initial right of residence period. That's my understanding.

It seems there are different levels of settlement, for example ILE is better than ILR because the latter expires after 2 years outside the UK. LE with no time limit on stay lets you stay here indefinitely but with more restriction on leaving and re-entering. That's my understanding.

Still not 100% sure on the meaning of this stamp. I think the 2nd post is correct RE leaving and re-entering for 6 months but it still isn't clear.

To the OP: What nationality is your spouse? And did you go through immigration together or did she go through the non-EEA channel by herself? Did you carry documentary proof of your marriage (marriage certificate)? I suspect that she may have been given the leave on the basis of her nationality and not on the basis of her accompanying her EEA spouse, especially if it was signified to the ECO that it was meant to be a short trip and not the basis for settlement.

@Fighterboy I think you are barking up the wrong tree. The definition in the link that you provided is for non-EEA citizens in their own right and is irrelevant to the question at hand.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, there is no practical difference between ILE and ILR, except the location where the applicant is based when it is granted. ILE is when the non-EEA applicant is outside the UK, ILR is when they are in the UK. But both of them confer settlement with identical restrictions and benefits.

As regards settlement, ILR (and its variant ILE) and PR can be lost after absence from the UK for more than two years. The only people who retain settlement status all the while they are in the UK are Irish citizens. They are considered settled on arrival in the UK and can come and go as they please. But that is not due to treaty rights, but UK domestic law.

@elpatron Your interpretation of treaty rights seems to imply that an EEA citizen's purchase of a Mars bar at the Boots store at the airport constitutes exercising treaty rights. Such an extraordinarily expansive interpretation of treaty rights will drive the most ardent Europhile Britishers into David Cameron's arms and towards a Brexit. I would caution against such an expansive construction of "treaty rights". Casa's definition is the commonly accepted (and more crucially, Home Office approved) definition. Let's stick to that in these forums.

My point was the stamp doesn't mean she has to leave after 6 months (or so I thought!) as the 2nd poster said. I don't think they can boot out an EEA national's spouse?

Also she can't just get entrance as a non-EEA national with no visa so it must've been via her EEA spouse. I'm pretty sure under EU law she can stay as long as she wants (if her husband obeys treaty rights)

@Fighterboy I agree with that.

I believe that the stamp was issued in error, on the basis of the wife's nationality, rather than on the basis of her marriage to an EEA citizen. The chances that the couple travelled without a marriage certificate are high and the ECO likely erred on the side of caution in stamping her passport with leave on the basis of her own nationality.

But were the EEA spouse be able to demonstrate the relationship, you are correct. The leave granted is irrelevant and she can stay for a period of five years as long as her EEA spouse is exercising treaty rights as defined by Casa. After five years, she acquires PR in her own right.

Edit: Some nationalities get visa on arrival. The OP has not mentioned the nationality of his wife, but if she were Canadian or a US citizen, for instance, she would get a visa on arrival for six months. A visa, even a visitor visa, is technically leave to stay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_poli ... _nationals

cafeconleche wrote:I think there is confusion here. Leave to enter for 6 months just means that your partner can visit the UK for 6 months. I take it that you are just visiting the UK, so this is just the stamp that indicates this. It does NOT mean that your partner can leave and enter again without you for a period of 6 months.

If you intend to remain in the UK, for the first 3 months, your partner has the same rights as you do. After that, if you exercise treaty rights, your partner will continue to derive these rights from you. But, I think this is irrelevant to you as you are just visiting, correct?

You're contradicting yourself? You first say it's for a 6 month visit, then say she can remain as long as her EEA partner exercises his treaty rights (correct). So to conclude she can stay but currently has 6 months worth of leaving and entering (alone or with husband I'm unsure).

Yes Simon it's possible she got the stamp with a visa on arrival. Ultimately it comes down to the terms of the visa or whether the relationship is established, the stamp is pretty irrelevant. Agreed?

To Simon and anyone else, see this image and read summary/description: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... ctions.jpg

I think this is identical to OP's case. Note the non-EEA spouse had no visa.

Sorry to bump an old thread but for sake of clarity:

Both the Russian wife in my above post and the Belarussian wife in the OP are visa nationals; they were admitted via marriage to their EEA spouse, else they'd have been refused due to no visa.

To SecretSimon - The stamps were therefore not issued in error. They give the wives 6 months of entry/re-entry permission to the UK (with or without spouse) but there is no effective limit on their stay. Lukapooka in post #2 is indeed correct.

I also noticed some confusion on here about Leave to Enter vs Leave to Remain. They are clearly different; this thread highlights the difference because the wives have no time limit on their stay, but had 6 months permission to enter/re-enter.

Leave to Enter/Remain for Limited/Indefinite period is normally granted under the Immigration Rules. It's not really appropriate for people subject to the EEA regulations.

People who enter without an EEA family permit at port, are usually issued with Code 1A, leave to enter for 6 months.

In theory this is wrong, as vinny is correct that family members does require leave.

But the directive do provides for unrestricted entry for the first 3 months.

Agreed, though it seems pretty standard for wives to recieve this stamp, after being admitted as the wife of an EEA national, without a family permit. I was just clarifying the basis for admission and the difference between Leave to Enter vs Remain.