UK Citizen with a Non-EU spouse currently outside the EU

Hi everyone,

Apologies if my questions are already covered in the sticky threads up top but trying to understand visa options has been desperately confusing so far.

My spouse is a US Citizen currently residing in the US. I am a UK Citizen currently residing in the UK. We have been apart for a substantial amount of time and have only recently begun to have the means to start visa application processes.

A U.S. visa for me may take upwards of a year, while a U.K. visa for my spouse, though it has a shorter processing time, would require me first to accrue six months of employment earning above the financial threshold.

In looking into options that would allow us to be together sooner I came across the Surinder Singh route. Am I right in understanding that If I were to move to an EEC country for the purposes of work, my spouse would be entitled to join me as a spouse of an EU national? And that some countries allow this without a visa? In the case of applying for a visa beforehand, which type would be required for this circumstance?

Very many thanks for any help.

This is correct. You could go to work/study/become self-sufficient in another EEA country, e.g. Spain/Ireland/Germany and your partner can live with you there was long as you are exercising treaty rights.

My partner has applied for a number of Schengen visas as the civil partner of an Irish citizen. These visas were all issued really quickly (a few days including the delivery time). This link to the documents required by the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing may help you: http://china.nlembassy.org/services/vis ... izens.html. We literally only applied what they asked for.

My partner is Chinese so he needs a visa for Europe, but an American doesn't. I don't think it would be necessary for your partner to apply for a visa in advance. I'm sure that there are other people in your situation here and I hope they come and answer your question soon.

Good luck!