UK National Indian Husband want to live and work in Belgium

Hi, I am a UK passport holder and my husband is an Indian National. Both of us are living in India right now but we would like to move to Brussels, Beligum and live and work there.

As the husband of an EU member, what does he need to do as far as visa, work permit etc?

Would he be also be able to live and work and move around Europe as easily as I can?

very confused, I appreciate any help possible in this.

IndoUsfamily wrote:As the husband of an EU member, what does he need to do as far as visa, work permit etc?

He will need an entry visa to Belgium. He doesn't need a work permit as his rights are automatic through the marriage to and EEA national, i.e. in principle he can work immediately (in practice it may be a problem to find an employer knowing about the fact). He will, however, need to apply for a Residence Card which confirms the rights he will already have.

IndoUsfamily wrote:Would he be also be able to live and work and move around Europe as easily as I can?

Together, yes under EU laws. Otherwise under national legislation which may be difficult to nearly impossible. Not sure about cross border work which means you are both resident in one state but the non-EEA family member commutes regularly to another member state for work (should be no problem for the EEA national except for taxation).

so as soon as we arrive, he could work? it seems too easy!

and the residence card is the same as I would have to apply for one in belgium as well, right?


and any idea how long it would take to get the entry visa?

It is very straight forward!

The UK citizen and the non-EU family members can all work as soon as they arrive in Belgium.

Once you arrive the general rule is that if Belgians are required to do it, so is the EU citizen and the family members. So if a Belgian is required to register their address with the city hall (or police) then so are you.

The non-EU family member(s) should have an entry visa, but it should be issued at no cost, as soon as possible, and on the basis of an accelerated process by the Belgian Embassy. You do not need to show any funds or proof that you have a job. They should take a maximum of 4 weeks to issue the visa.

After you have lived and worked in Belgium (or any other non-UK country in the EU), you can then optionally move to the UK on the basis of the same rules. Retain all your records that show you have been working in Belgium.

The Residence Card is just for the non-EU family member, and can be applied for once the EU person is working. The person with the UK passport may be required to register if they stay for more than 90 days.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:...The non-EU family member(s) should have an entry visa...

Hi Directive, long time no hear,

a more theoretical remark about the entry-visa:
The thing is that you need it to be physically able to get to Belgium, as from India there will no doubt be multiple checks which cannot be passed without a visa...

...however, if you manage to get to Belgium without a visa by any means you can stay there ever after: Living proof is myself: I entered Belgium via France arriving from Ireland on a 4EUFam-card. We then registered at the local townhall, and that was basically it.

Unfortunately it took the Belgians 6 months to issue the residence-card, which can cause much-discussed problems.

Regards from Zürich,
Christian

ca.funke wrote:

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:...The non-EU family member(s) should have an entry visa...

Hi Directive, long time no hear,

a more theoretical remark about the entry-visa:
The thing is that you need it to be physically able to get to Belgium, as from India there will no doubt be multiple checks which cannot be passed without a visa...

...however, if you manage to get to Belgium without a visa by any means you can stay there ever after: Living proof is myself: I entered Belgium via France arriving from Ireland on a 4EUFam-card. We then registered at the local townhall, and that was basically it.

Unfortunately it took the Belgians 6 months to issue the residence-card, which can cause much-discussed problems.

Regards from Zürich,
Christian

What will become the status of your 4EUfam once you obtain Belgium Resident Card. I gathered you can apply for permanent resident card 3 years after the issuing of a Resident Card. Can you confirm this. Where you also able to get into france Visa Free aswell

Obie wrote:What will become the status of your 4EUfam once you obtain Belgium Resident Card.

Actually - no idea. We kept the 4EUFam-card just in case we want to go back to Ireland to visit some folks there. We assume that we would be allowed to travel... But didn't try it lately...

Obie wrote:I gathered you can apply for permanent resident card 3 years after the issuing of a Resident Card. Can you confirm this.

Again - no idea. We just registered in Belgium so we can travel within Schengen freely - that was a temporary solution between jobs (I switched from Ireland to Switzerland, but had 6 months off in between and we wanted to explore Europe a bit...) This didn't work out quite as well as expected, as it took the Belgians 6 months to give us the bloody card - so we entered and exited Schengen with 4EUFam a few times, what a hassle

Obie wrote:Where you also able to get into france Visa Free aswell

Yes - but maybe that was luck: (Here comes the fairy-tale:)

I (German/Belgian) went with a car from Belgium to Ireland to pick up all our household-stuff.

While I picked up the car in Belgium, my Lebanese wife stayed in IRL, thus I travelled alone.

For some obscure reason, when trying to board the ferry on the way out to Ireland, the French border-police took me into a hangar and searched the whole car (which was empty)...

...so I used the opportunity to involve them into a conversation about coming back the other way in 2 days, telling them that my car will be full but I still won't smuggle anything, but that I will also bring my wife, so they may want to investigate about 4EUFam even before we get there, so maybe there'll be less hassle...

...they were very friendly and said they would...

When I came back, car fully packed with stuff and together with my wife, the folks on duty were exactly the same folks, and they just waved us through - they didn't even want to see passports, absolutely nothing, they just said "Ahhh, c'est bien, t'as trouvé ta petite Libanaise, bonne route"...

I couldn't really believe it, but that's how we entered Schengen, so I guess it worked but wasn't very typical in this case...

That was a wonderful experience i guess.

Would it not be lovely if all countries acted in the same friendly and welcoming way.

Its a good thing you had set the ground works though, and familiarise with the guards.

It definitely pays to be friendly i always say.

ca.funke wrote:Hi Directive, long time no hear

Nice to be back more regularly. I have somehow not had much time recently, but have more now! Plus it is lovely long summer days.

The 4EUFam card are valid for up 6 months away from Ireland, and 12 months in certain circumstances like health problems and vocational training. Not sure if you can keep it alive longer with ongoing short visits to Ireland, though I suspect not. Same goes for all other Residence Cards.

Glad to hear you have been doing lots of back and forth entry with no problems. I really think the embassies and the border guards are two organizations who seem to have very different understanding of the rules. In the end it is the border guards who seem better informed and who actually let you in.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:...The 4EUFam card are valid for up 6 months away from Ireland...

How would they check how long we've been away?

The only thing we would ever use the 4EUFam card in the future would be to enter Ireland for temporary visits, so we don't have to apply for a visa. (I know that usually the Belgian Schengen-residence-card for EU-family-members should allow entry into Ireland, but we both know the Irish don't acknowledge that, so we are hanging on to the 4EUFam card "just in case" we feel like shopping in Pennies on O'Connell Street)

ca.funke wrote:How would they check how long we've been away?

I can't imagine GNIB will ever be organized enough to know.

And it would not matter even if they did realize you had been away for 6m and one day. The Residence Card would be mostly useful for getting past the airline checks and on the plane. Once you are there, you can always enter on the basis of ECJ MRAX case (if you have your marriage certificate and are travelling together).

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:The 4EUFam card are valid for up 6 months away...

I wonder if that is not somewhat of a grey area. If a family clearly indents to stay in another member state wouldn't that mean that the RC of the old member state becomes invalid?

Let's construct another case were this would be handy if it were true unconditionally. The non-EEA spouse gets a job in another member state B but the EEA national cannot leave the old member state A immediately, let's say because of the job. So both move "officially" together to B and go through the necessary procedures (the EEA national only being present when really necessary). The non-EEA spouse stays in B and starts working. The EEA spouse meanwhile returns to A for finish the job before eventually really moving to B before the end of the six months. From the viewpoint of B the EEA national can be absent up to six months before losing residence.

Somehow this doesn't sound right.

Oh, one other example: both move to B but unfortunately the EEA national passes away. Having been there for less than one year the non-EEA spouse cannot stay in B but since they have been there for less than six months the non-EEA spouse moves back to A where the conditions are met. Possible (maybe apart from the complications that the spouse died in another country)?

I don't see anything that prevents you from having two (or more) Residence Cards, at least for a period of time. In fact it feels very natural if you are moving between different member states.

its nice and cool

It certainly is.

so how this residence card works for non eu national can the holder of residence card travel only with card without passport or it should be presented along with passport for travel for instance travel outside Eu and schengen area like indian spouse of british lady gets the card and wants to travel to india and come back to europe is passport needed or just residence card is enough to travel so where they stamp if passport is not req.

Directive/2004/38/EC Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:44 pm Post subject:

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2.
I don't see anything that prevents you from having two (or more) Residence Cards, at least for a period of time. In fact it feels very natural if you are moving between different member states.
and how you declare your other residence card to the state where you applying second or third one

3 i thought residence card holders can enter in ireland with out visa now

ca.funke
The only thing we would ever use the 4EUFam card in the future would be to enter Ireland for temporary visits, so we don't have to apply for a visa. (I know that usually the Belgian Schengen-residence-card for EU-family-members should allow entry into Ireland, but we both know the Irish don't acknowledge that, so we are hanging on to the 4EUFam card "just in case" we feel like shopping in Pennies on O'Connell Street)

Passport is required in general in any case for non-EU nationals. Residence card issued by UK is usually stuck in the passport.