Moving to UK with non-UK spouse and child

Hi there

I am wanting to move to the UK in Oct 2020 with my de-facto partner and our son and I am unsure about the best application route for our unique situation.

My situation is that I am a New Zealander living in Australia, however, I am also a UK citizen by descent and have a current UK passport, although I have never lived in the UK. I will also be Irish citizen by descent shortly (expect to get this by about March 2020). My partner is an Australian citizen, as is my son.

My question is, should we apply for the spouse visa through my UK citizenship, or should / can we apply through the EU family permit and then apply for the EU settlement scheme which I assume I have access to through my Irish citizenship?
Applying for the EU family permit will need to be done before 31 December 2020 due to Brexit, then we can apply for the EU settlement scheme which closes 30 June 2021. It will also be free as far as I can tell where as the family / spouse visa will cost many thousands.

I am also not sure about the rights of a spouse of an Irish citizen to stay in the UK after Brexit through the Common Travel Agreement between Ireland and the UK. The third option, maybe to move to Ireland and have my son and partner gain a visa in Ireland (which is much easier than through the UK) then move to the UK, but I am not sure if the UK will honour that?

We are also open to getting married if this will make things easier as well - would you recommend this?

Any advice on which route to take will be most appreciated.

Thank you!

To an extent this will depend on what you mean by de-facto partner. For the most part, if you can prove having lived together in a relationship akin to marriage for at least 2 years than you will be treated the same as married partners for UK immigration applications.

You would definitely be eligible to apply for family visas for your partner and child because of your UK citizenship.

As far as I can tell, dual UK-EEA citizenship is treated as follows under the EU settlement scheme:
"A family member of a relevant EEA citizen can also apply where they are the family member of a dual British and EEA citizen who exercised free movement rights in the UK prior to the acquisition of British citizenship and who retained their EEA nationality of origin after acquiring British citizenship. This reflects the CJEU judgment in Lounes." https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... .0-ext.pdf

This would suggest that you must have been exercising freedom of movement rights in the UK as an EEA citizen prior to obtaining British citizenship in order to bring family members in under the scheme.

Also see the following with regards to family members of Irish citizens:
"The CTA arrangements do not provide for your existing close family members to remain with you in the UK or join you in the future where they are not Irish citizens or British citizens.
If they wish to remain with you in the UK, or join you in the UK in future, they will be required to apply for a status under the EU Settlement Scheme or for European temporary leave to remain."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... a-guidance

This is all just from my own research on the subject, hopefully some others more familiar with these types of applications will also provide some thoughts.

Hi geoeng

Thanks for the reply. Based on what you have said and some further digging it does look like the only option for me to apply for the UK spouse visas for my partner and son as I was a UK citizen before I became an Irish citizen and the common travel arrangement does not extend to non-Irish spouses.

Regards

dom_oh,

Do you meet all the other financial and accommodation criteria, regarding either job and or savings and a suitable place to stay?

dom_oh wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:06 am

My situation is that I am a New Zealander living in Australia, however, I am also a UK citizen by descent and have a current UK passport, although I have never lived in the UK. I will also be Irish citizen by descent shortly (expect to get this by about March 2020). My partner is an Australian citizen, as is my son.

Would your son be eligible for Irish citizenship though you?

That would make things a lot easier and save you quite a bit of money.