No Time Limit Stamp on Passport

Hi, I have a question and I hope you guys can help me with that.

Here is the situation:

I am Brazilian and my husband is German and he got accepted in a master program in London. I tried to get my Family Permit visa but it was denied because he didn't have a permanent address and he didn't have a health insurance in the UK.

We came to London in January, I got in with a tourist visa and then I went back to Brazil in April (when I tried to get my Family Permit visa). My husband's classes started again in October so we came back to London and at the Immigration at the airport, the officer saw that I had a denied visa so she wanted to ask me questions to understand my situation (she asked us about money, living situation, his course in the university, about our relationship, I showed her our marriage certificate in English, the letter from the University, our ticket back to Brazil). I explained to her that we were going to try to arrange the things that was left for me to get my visa (rent a place, have a health insurance...) and than I was going to go back to Brazil to try to get my visa again.

At the end, she said that I could enter the UK and stamped my passport with the regular stamp and with another stamp that I can not understand.

The stamp says:
Admitted to the United Kingdom under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006 for:
no time limit (written in pen)
Under that there's a box, also written in pen, with PEC 02 730



Can anyone help me? I would really appreciate it.

That’s the stamp for a non-EEA family member admitted into the UK without an EEA family permit. Normally, it’s only valid for six months. If your husband now has CSIC, etc., then you may apply for a residence card in the UK. You don’t have to return to Brazil.

Hello... my Canadian wife (with whom I - a UK citizen - lived in Belgium for the last 7 years) also recently entered the UK by exercising her EU Treaty rights and getting the same "No Time Limit" written on the stamp ("Admitted to the United Kingdom under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006 for: NO TIME LIMIT")

My question is whether this is a mistake? Can she remain indefinitely? Or does this allow her to stay for only the 6 months and I should apply for a residency card? (I think we will do so anyway). Does this replace a "spousal settlement visa"? And what will happen come March 2019?

Thank you for any advice.

Hodgepodge67 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:04 am

My question is whether this is a mistake? Can she remain indefinitely? Or does this allow her to stay for only the 6 months and I should apply for a residency card? (I think we will do so anyway). Does this replace a "spousal settlement visa"? And what will happen come March 2019?

She can certainly remain as long as you could if you were a Dutchman who had come to the UK for the first time. As far as I can make out, the stamp indicates that the Immigration Officer considered your wife to be entitled to admission under Section 9 of the EEA Regulations 2016, or under the parts of EU law it purports to implement - 'Surinder Singh' and related judgements. How well it works for employment and renting accommodation is unclear. For practical purposes, she should apply for a residence card. If there is an agreement for Brexit, she should then apply for 'pre-settled status'. She will then be on a 5-year route to settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

The short answer is that these do replace a spousal settlement visa and the corresponding extensions of leave: the long answer is that they are subtly different things. EU law talks of rights rather than permissions, but you will mostly see the transitional arrangements away from it.