EU Citizen marrying a Mexican citizen

I was hoping someone out there could help me!! I am a British Citizen and am currently working in Mexico. I am planning on marrying my Mexican boyfriend at the end of the year on at the beginning of next year and we then hope to settle in the UK or Germany. We were planning to get married in the UK but after reading the visa requirements it seems to be a better option to get married in Mexico and then move to the UK. Am I right in thinking this? Also roughly how long will it take for them to issue him with a work permit for the UK? After about 6 months we were thinking of moving to Germany. Would he be allowed to work there to given that by that time he will be married to an EU citizen?

........ it seems to be a better option to get married in Mexico and then move to the UK. Am I right in thinking this? Also roughly how long will it take for them to issue him with a work permit for the UK?

Yes, better to get married in Mexico. Then your husband (as he will be) will need to apply for a spouse visa, at the British Embassy in Mexico City. Armed with that spouse visa in his passport he will not need a Work Permit to work in the UK. The spouse visa will entitle him to work without requiring a WP.

How long to issue a spouse visa in Mexico? I don't think the delay is great but why not phone the embassy and ask them.

Germany? Given that you are a EEA Citizen, and assuming the two of you are then living in the UK, your husband would need to apply, at the German Embassy in London, for a German-issued EEA Family Permit. Such a permit in his passport will confirm that he has the same EEA/EU rights as you (subject to the two of you being together), and that includes the right to live and work in Germany.

Allie wrote:After about 6 months we were thinking of moving to Germany. Would he be allowed to work there to given that by that time he will be married to an EU citizen?

You could sponsor for a German visa of some description allowing this.

But does he want to get British citizenship? If so, then moving to Germany in that timeframe would not be such a good idea (getting German citizenship would take a lot longer).

Thanks for the advice John. I have looked into the EEA Spouse Visa on the internet and I have found that it has been reduced to 6 months. Does that mean that after 6 months my future husband would have to go back to the UK? Also would he be able to work in Germany during that time?

Does that mean that after 6 months my future husband would have to go back to the UK?

No, it means that prior to the expiry of that 6-month EEA Family Permit he would apply in Germany for a 5-year Residence Card.

And yes, he can work in Germany, without a Work Permit, on either the EEA Family Permit or the Residence Card that will follow. That is EU law!

Let's look at this from a slightly different angle. As a British Citizen, and therefore a citizen of the EEA and EU, you have certain Treaty Rights. These include the right for you to live and work in any EEA country, including of course Germany, without needing a Work Permit. Your non-EEA family member .... your husband, has the same Treaty rights as you, but needs either (initially) an EEA Family Permit or (subsequently) a Residence Card to prove that those rights are held.

The only proviso to this is that you need to be exercising your Treaty Rights in Germany in order for your family member to be able to do the same.

By the way, when you get to Germany, you have the right to go on the German electoral register, and subsequently vote in European and local elections, but not German national elections. That right does not extend to your non-EEA national family member.

Does that help?

Definitely, thanks for your help