Briton wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 3:29 pm
There is a provision in this law that you are either living together in Europe before 1 January 2021 "OR" your relationship started before 01-01-2021.
That's why I mentioned the year of marriage.
•British nationals who formed a relationship with their family member (spouse, durable partner, child, dependent parent) before 31st January 2020 must return to the UK before 29th March 2022.
•British nationals who started their relationship their family member (spouse, durable partner, child, dependant parent) after 31st January 2020 must have returned to the UK and apply before 31st December 2020.
I think the condition is likely an "AND", not an "OR".
I hate to sound like one of my professors, but one should look to the original text of the law, if at all possible.
And the original text of the law is the definition of "Family member of a qualifying British citizen" in the Annex 1 - Definitions of
Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules.
There are three sub-sections of that definition, all three of which must be met (i.e. they are all linked by an "AND" condition).
While indeed subsection (a) refers to the marriage having been formed before the specified date (31st December 2020), subsection (b) - which is joined to subsection (a) by an AND, not an OR- also requires that the conditions of Regulation 9 of the EEA Regulations have been met
before the specified date.
(b) they satisfied the conditions in regulation 9(2), (3) and (4)(a) of the EEA Regulations (as the family member (“F”) to whom those provisions refer) or, as the case may be, the conditions in regulation 9(1A)(b), (2), (3) and (4)(a) of the EEA Regulations (as the extended family member (“EFM”) to whom those provisions refer), in either case doing so:
(i) before the specified date; and
(ii) (...) immediately before returning to the UK with the qualifying British citizen (who is to be treated as the British citizen (“BC”) to whom those provisions refer); and
So, for an application for the Surinder Singh route to be made under the EU Settled Status route, the conditions of
Regulation 9 of the EEA Regulations 2016 still need to have been met before 31st December 2020.
Regulation 9(2)(b) states "F and BC resided together in the EEA State; and" (F being the family member and BC being the British citizen).
So, by extension, there is a requirement in the EU Settled Status scheme for a Surinder Singh spouse applicant to have (a) formed a marriage with and (b) lived with the British citizen in the EEA member-state before 31st December 2020.
Again, it is an "AND" condition, not an "OR" condition.
I am not a lawyer or immigration advisor. My statements/comments do not constitute legal advice. E&OE. Please do not PM me for advice.
