Immigrationboards.com

Hello there, I'm new--so, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong area! I was told to come here by a person on another forum. I'm going to give a quick overhaul of my situation.

I'm American, my boyfriend is English. My boyfriend and I have known each other 7 years. We've been in an romantic relationship for a little over a year in a half now. We were planning on getting married on his next visit here.

However, he doesn't meet the minimum money requirement for a visa to sponsor me, even though he works at a hospital full time and sometimes overtime. We were going to try to both save up but the money they want in the bank is just.. too much, we'd be saving for 4 or 5 years for what they want to see.

Anyway, so, we are now considering the Surinder Singh route as we have no other choice, after we get married of course. The new rules are just too hard for us to reach and this might be a much needed lifeline for us to be together. So, he has a friend who's family lives in Dublin, of which he might be able to stay with.

I know that Dublin is apart of the EU and I was wondering, could he go there, find work (which will probably be pretty hard, but probably easier than the 18,600 pound requirement in the UK) and work there for 3 months, then apply for me to come over from the US on an EEA family permit? If we could, how long do they typically take to be processed and a decision to be made? What might be a reason for a refusal?

If I get an EEA family permit, after given that could we return to the UK together? Would I have to apply for a visa after six months after the EEA family permit expires? If so, which would I apply for?

I know, I'm sorry for the bombardment of questions. But I'd really like to know how this would work exactly.

I've read places that it's 6 months he needs to be there working, or even that this route is completely closed? I've also read that I also must be living with him for the time he is there? I don't know how that would be possible if I wasn't legally allowed to live there without an EEA permit in the first place.

There is a lot of misinformation going around and I'd like to know if anyone could give this to me straight on how it is to be done? Sorry if this has been posted before, but I literally just found out about this today and I want to get all my facts straight for myself and my boyfriend to discuss our options.

I don't have the money to currently ask an immigration solicitor, so I was trying to get as much info as I can online.

See also A way to legally circumvent new immigration rules.

I suggest you read the 2006 immigration regulations and ensure that you meet the requirements specified there for UK nationals.

There is a link to the regulations in this thread.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 7&start=20

There would be no requirement to apply for a family permit from the states. It could be done in Dublin for example. Also, it would be possible to apply for a residence card directly once in the UK.

You dont HAVE to be married, if you can prove a durable relationship of over 2 years its enough to get the ball rolling. (but being married would be the easier option)

The basics sound simple, the British citizen (BC) has to be able to prove employment or self-employed as well as residency.

The non EEA citizen joins them and is allowed to work also.

The BC can stay they for up to 3 months during which time they MUST find work to be allowed to stay longer.

How long you have to keep up the sharade is not set in stone, I suggest plan on 9 months though.

The non EEA needs to get stamp4 on arrival in Ireland to be allowed to work. When BC has evidence of work/accomodation the non EEA applies for EUfam4 stamp to be able to stay over the 3 months. When you have the EUfam4 stamp you can sit back a bit, maybe even stay there permanant. Or you then apply for EEA2 from British embassy, they are allowed to take up to 6 months to issue and you can bet your bottom dollar they will stretch it out as long as they can which is why I said recon on 9 months.

357mag wrote:You dont HAVE to be married, if you can prove a durable relationship of over 2 years its enough to get the ball rolling. (but being married would be the easier option)

The basics sound simple, the British citizen (BC) has to be able to prove employment or self-employed as well as residency.

The non EEA citizen joins them and is allowed to work also.

The BC can stay they for up to 3 months during which time they MUST find work to be allowed to stay longer.

How long you have to keep up the sharade is not set in stone, I suggest plan on 9 months though.

The non EEA needs to get stamp4 on arrival in Ireland to be allowed to work. When BC has evidence of work/accomodation the non EEA applies for EUfam4 stamp to be able to stay over the 3 months. When you have the EUfam4 stamp you can sit back a bit, maybe even stay there permanant. Or you then apply for EEA2 from British embassy, they are allowed to take up to 6 months to issue and you can bet your bottom dollar they will stretch it out as long as they can which is why I said recon on 9 months.

There are a number of inaccuracies in this post. i don't intend to point them all out.

A good place to start researching would be here.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=114867

There probably are errors in my post, pity you dont inform me of them and put me on the right track though.

My own plans are going slow and I dont know if I can get things moving before she is kicked out of the UK. It seems UKBA are speeding up with their processing times and my girls FLR(O) is likely to fail.

Like the OP we are are finding the 18.6k impossible but are hoping the level will be lowered if the Home Office lose their appeal.

@357mag, I didn't correct all the errors in your post, simply was pointing out that there were some inaccuracies. The information pertaining to Singh is reasonably well published. There are many threads on this forum that describe success stories.

If you have a specific question about your situation or require clarity, please ask.

We have a sticky on the subject - see here

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=138469