French citizen returning to France from UK with family member

Hello,
My civil partner is not from the EU and I am a French citizen. We live in the United Kingdom but we want to return to France. But in any French text, we can't ask for a French EU residence card, while it is a rule of the union.
Has anyone else had this problem? Have you been able to solve your problem?
(Sorry I don't speak well English )

Yvouille wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:00 pm

Hello,
My civil partner is not from the EU and I am a French citizen. We live in the United Kingdom but we want to return to France. But in any French text, we can't ask for a French EU residence card, while it is a rule of the union.
Has anyone else had this problem? Have you been able to solve your problem?
(Sorry I don't speak well English )

Can you be clearer? You are planning to move to France and your partner is not from the EU, so you would like to know what are the options for him to be able to live with you there?

For non-EU family members/spouses/partners of EU citizens, they have to apply for a residence permit at the local prefecture within 3 months of their arrival in France. They get a receipt which allows them to stay there and then the decision about the residence card is usually made within the next 6 months: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/r ... dex_en.htm

thank you for your reply. Sorry, I was not specific enough.
I am a French citizen and my partner is an African citizen. Directive 2004/38 / CE does not allow me to settle with my partner in France because I am a French citizen.
But I would like to know if there is a Surrinder singh route for France? and has anyone used it before?

Surinder Singh route applies to all EU countries.

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/surinde ... ion-route/

Yvouille wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 23, 2020 2:46 pm

thank you for your reply. Sorry, I was not specific enough.
I am a French citizen and my partner is an African citizen. Directive 2004/38 / CE does not allow me to settle with my partner in France because I am a French citizen.
But I would like to know if there is a Surrinder singh route for France? and has anyone used it before?

There is also something similar that was decided upon by the CJEU in 2014. It was a case of some Dutch national living elsewhere with non-EU partner and it was established that by not allowing their non-EU partner to exercise the same rights of residence upon the citizen's return to the Netherlands as they did in host EU country, it was essentially a deterrent to free movement. The citizen does have to prove though that the residence in the host EU country was "genuine". So, a specific duration along with proof of "family ties" to the non-EU citizen. In your case, you would have to prove an established relationship/civil partnership.

This page explains the judgment and its consequences well: https://europeanlawblog.eu/2014/04/11/c ... -citizens/

Yvouille wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:00 pm

Hello,
My civil partner is not from the EU and I am a French citizen. We live in the United Kingdom but we want to return to France. But in any French text, we can't ask for a French EU residence card, while it is a rule of the union.
Has anyone else had this problem? Have you been able to solve your problem?
(Sorry I don't speak well English )

How long have you been living in the UK and how have you been exercising treaty rights?

We arrived a month ago to learn English and we expect to return to France in January 2021 at the end of his EEA family permit if we cannot find a job. We thought we would have to redo the French procedures until we read this site and get some information. We try to anticipate.

Yvouille wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 23, 2020 7:01 pm

We arrived a month ago to learn English and we expect to return to France in January 2021 at the end of his EEA family permit if we cannot find a job. We thought we would have to redo the French procedures until we read this site and get some information. We try to anticipate.

I think the problem will be, that you moved to the UK after it left the EU and that you plan to return to France after the end of the transition period.

At least the other way around (British people arriving in France after 31st January 2020) Surinder Singh no longer works (or so it appears at the moment, who knows what will actually be the case next year).

You need to exercise treaty rights in an EU country that you do not hold nationality of. The UK is no longer an EU country, even though the transition period makes it still 'feel' like one. If you can't meet the requirements for a French spouse visa, you may or may not face difficulties returning from the UK and claiming EU freedom of movement rights. BUT how France will deal with these cases nobody knows at the moment because negotiations are still ongoing.

Maybe a different English-speaking EU country would be a better choice, since you have hardly arrived in the UK and are probably still relatively mobile? Republic of Ireland or Malta, possibly?

I don't think that she can apply as civil partner in ireland cause we're opposite sex couple. can she? It's the same problem in Malta.

Yvouille wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:30 pm

I don't think that she can apply as civil partner in ireland cause we're opposite sex couple. can she? It's the same problem in Malta.

The Republic of Ireland has legalised same-sex marriage in 2015, so I would think it is also recognised for immigration purposes - maybe check over at the Ireland forum? (Word of caution, as far as I have read, they are not keen on non-EEA spouses of EEA nationals and tend to max out application processing times.)

Same with Malta, same sex marriage is recognised

Anyway, do you meet the French domestic spouse visa requirements? I'd prepare for the worst case scenario that a return to France under Surinder Singh is no longer possible, as you are not exercising EU treaty rights, you are exercising Withdrawal Agreement rights.

Ireland and Malta were just a suggestion in case you actually need the Surinder Singh route (and the English language is important, I guess you could also go to Belgium, for instance, if you need an EU country and want one where you already speak the language).

By the way, when you say you came to the UK to 'learn English', is that a full time course = more than 16 hours of classes a week?