Can my wife excersise her treaty of rights

[terryg]

I have been married to my Venezuelean wife for 7 years.
We lived and worked in Spain for 4.5 years. We both have Spanish resident cards and I am a british citizen living in England with our 2 children aged 7 and 3 years.

She is working in Spain and l am on benefits looking after the children in England scince Dec 2010.

I have been told that l can not exercise my treaty of rights that would allow her to join us on a family permit. We have been told that she will have to apply for a visa as a spouse. I beleive this will be refused as l am on benefits. Can she exercise her rights and the day she arrives then l could work and could l caim my rights.

[vinny]

What treaty rights does Venezuela have with the UK? See also Is EEA Family Permit possible in this case?

[terryg]

What treaty rights does Venezuela have with the UK? See also Is EEA Family Permit possible in this case?

We have contacted the immigration office and they say that my wife can not apply for an EEA permit only a full visa as a spouse. They say it will be refused as l calaim benefits.

We have had 2 visas refused this year and were told that if a 3rd application is refused she will hav a 3 year ban on further applications.

I was under the impression that first we needed a spouse visa £850. cost so we planed to do that later as we needed to be more established.

I returned to the UK in Dec 2010 with the kids to live in a caravan while l found a place to live. Our business sufferd because of the economic problems last year.

My wife only needed a 6 month family visit visa to allow her to go back on forth to Spain to deal with the tax rebates and reclaim of IVA(VAT) that we are due. Also we are still selling house hold goods. We are still owed thousands and my wife needs to sort this out there.

She has a part time job and rents a room in an appartment with her friends. Oh and we all have Spanish residence cards.

The visa was refused because the officer stated that it was unlikely that my wife intended to return to Spain as he thought she had no reason to. Also the 780 euro she showed on her bank statement he thought it was not her money for her to use for the trip, and, she could not afford the return flight. Also she would have recourse to the public funds l calim to support our 2 british kids aged 3 and 7 years. I think 780 euros is more than enough for the 20 day visit she stated was her intention.

I would love to speak to the person face to face. My wife wants to see her kids when she can and we can afford for her to come and go at the moment. She is financialy independent. Se make 750 euros a month and pays very little of that to live. The officer decided that every bit of paper we supplied to support that was no good. He disputed regular deposits into her bank. She has 4 English students that pay her per lesson. and she is a part time waitress.

I am also waiting to go into hospital for an operation and l would like mum here to look after the kids. Any thing could happen.

On one hand l am told to apply for a spouse visa and on the other an EEA family permit. Both l am told will be refused because l am on benefits.

What do we do.

[geriatrix]

We had finacial matters to conclude in Spain and we applided for a 6 month visa to allow my wife to come and go when she could.

We have over 4,000 euros to reclaim in tax rebates and IVA (VAT).

Also house hold things to sell. We intended to use this money to pay for the spouse visa we were under the impretion that we needed at this time.

The officer refused the visa for the following reasons.

1. He did not beleive that she intended to return to Spain as she did not have any reason to be there.

2. The 780 euro she showed on the bank statement he did not beleive it was hers to use for the trip.

3. She would have recorse to the public funds i am claiming for mainly the kids.

4. She could not afford the return flight.

By the way she stated that the length of her visit was for 20 days. We still have a family dog to find a home for and she rents a room with some friends and still has a part time job in Spain.

[ciaramc]

as you have exercised your treaty rights in EU another country with your wife you can apply under EU law for a FP rather than UK law.

[terryg]

Thank you for your reply.

I called the UKBA for information on this EEA PA and told them the facts ie, married 7 years, working in Spain 4 years, Spanish resident permits, 2 kids. The woman said we could not execise our treaty of rights as l was now living in the UK and calaiming benefits.

I have looked at the link provided on this site regarding benefits and it states that there are situations where she would have an equal right.

Why or how can the UKBA still say that she will be refused a spouse visa and an EEA PA.

[86ti]

The woman said we could not execise our treaty of rights as l was now living in the UK and calaiming benefits.

Would you please read vinny's second link again, in particular regarding the Eind case further down that thread? Do not rely on what somebody said over the phone. What you really should do is to apply for a EEA FP including a cover letter referring to the Eind case. Still possible that the application would be turned down because of ignorance or because you having been in the UK for a while already.

What was the reason you have left Spain? Your wife's status in Spain obviously still depends on you exercising treaty rights there and would become independent only after becoming a permanent resident (normally after 5 years).

[terryg]

I left Spain in Dec 2010 because of the economic problems last year put an end to my transport business, transporting car construction materials from Ford Spain Ford Germany.

l felt that the future was not good in Spain and felt that it would be better and more secure for the kids to be arround family in England.

I basicaly came back here to work. But as l have the children to look after l cant do that till my wife is here.

Thankyou for you information and l will follow the link you suggested.

[terryg]

Thank you for that. I have looked at the Case for Eind and it is very helpfull. I will refur to this case in a covering letter for the EEA family permit application.

I have one more point that l requre some advice on. That is the ristrictions that are mentioned in the UKBA directive regarding public funds. I beleive that the permit may be refused due to the fact that l claim benefis.

The directive to the clearence officer states that the only benefit that l claim that could be counted as public funs is my Income support. The other benefits are for our children, and can not be counted as public funds. It seem that for the sake of £65.00 per week her permit coud be refused.

Is there anything l can do to remove that problem.

[terryg]

Further to my research regarding the Vaf 5 FP application l notice that this form has been questioned by immigration lawyers regarding the information that is requested that the applicat must supply.
see [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEA_Regulations_(UK)(URL)

Here it states that this form requests information that is not necissary and is a direct disregard of EU directives. I have made a complaint to the home office and my MP. l think that it is time more people made a stand.

If any body has experience good or bad with the Vaf5 application process please let me know.

[86ti]

If any body has experience good or bad with the Vaf5 application process please let me know.

Well, this is discussed on this board on a very regular basis. May I suggest to spend some time here and also use the search function. Many of those threads may turn out to be very useful.