Immigrationboards.com

Hey,

I'm French and I'm married to a Russian woman. We are both living in Paris. We'd like to visit London just for a week-end, and I'm very confused whether an EEA Family Permit applies for such short trips, or if she is only eligible for one if I was living permanently in the UK.

I've read this forum FAQ, went through a few pages of old posts, read as well the relevant pages on the UKBA website (mainly http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucit ... ly-permit/ http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... /eun/eun2/ ) but I'm still confused

The second link says for example "An EEA family permit is a document that we issue to make it easier for non-EEA family members of EEA nationals to travel with their EEA national or to join them in the UK", which sounds like an EEA family permit would make sense for a week-end trip. However, the first link then says "A non-EEA family member of an EEA national will need to obtain an EEA family permit before travelling to the UK if they are coming to live with the EEA national in the UK", and that's about it.

Can anyone clarify whether we can ask for an EEA Family Permit for this week-end trip to London, or if my wife should ask for a Tourism Visa instead? Thanks in advance!

EEA Family Permit can be used for a short travel.

How do you plan to travel? If by train or car/ferry, you don't really need a EEA Family Permit and can obtain entry directly. If you are flying, apply for EEA Family Permit.

Thanks a lot for the answer! We will be travelling by train. How would direct entry work? When passing immigration/customs control at the train station, we show our passports and an official document proving we are married? Does it need to be translated to English?
And can we be reasonably sure she won't get rejected/questioned for a long time if we try direct entry?

By any chance, does anyone have experience with taking the Eurostar with their non-EEA spouse and no visa/permit, and successfully getting through ? Quite worried of attempting that :-/