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I was wondering if anybody could provide me with some advice on the following situation:

I am a Cypriot national who has been living and working in France with my South African wife since 2013. We were married in 2012. She is therefore the holder of an Article 10 Residence Card : Family Member of an EEA National (valid until 2021).

We are looking to move to the UK in August as I will be studying my MSc there. She has been accepted into a paid internship as well. We traveled to the UK recently using the Article 10 Residence Card and she gained entry with out any trouble and received a stamp in her passport that said Family Member and was valid for six months. However, I have not been able to find any information on what exactly is the difference between entering on an Article 10 residence card or an EEA family member permit? We felt that as we were planning to move to the UK we should apply for the FM permit, which is what we did. We have just recently received the dreaded email stating that our application is not straight forward and is being further examined. I am now afraid that they are going to take ages to process her visa and ultimately refuse it for what ever reason, despite us providing all the necessary documentation.

My first question is: can someone enter into the UK on an Article 10 Residence Card and then apply for a UK residence Card once there? Would she be able to work if we did this?

My second question is if so, is there any way to contact the Shefield Visa centre to cancel our current application and receive her passport back quickly? A lengthy delay will result in both of us missing our registration deadlines and put our entire plan out.

Lastly, might I be over reacting and they might just be taking a bit longer?

Thank you in advance.

MikePasso wrote:My first question is: can someone enter into the UK on an Article 10 Residence Card and then apply for a UK residence Card once there? Would she be able to work if we did this?

Yes and yes. However, she cannot use it enter *before* you. It is best if she gets the "EEA regulation stamp" on entry, as that should keep her employer happy until she gets the Certificate of Application when she applies for her residence card. Don't forget that for her to apply for a residence card, you will need 'Comprehensive Sickness Insurance' for the two of you.

MikePasso wrote:My second question is if so, is there any way to contact the Shefield Visa centre to cancel our current application and receive her passport back quickly? A lengthy delay will result in both of us missing our registration deadlines and put our entire plan out.

Someone else will have to help you on that one.

MikePasso wrote:Lastly, might I be over reacting and they might just be taking a bit longer?

Possibly, but applying for a family permit seems to have been a bad idea in your case.

Richard W wrote: Yes and yes. However, she cannot use it enter *before* you. It is best if she gets the "EEA regulation stamp" on entry, as that should keep her employer happy until she gets the Certificate of Application when she applies for her residence card. Don't forget that for her to apply for a residence card, you will need 'Comprehensive Sickness Insurance' for the two of you.

Thank you for the response, its greatly appreciated! Just a few follow up questions: Do we just request the "EEA regulation stamp" when we enter immigration, like at passport control at the airport? Last time they just stamped it with out asking. Also, I mistakenly thought CSI was only necessary if you were wishing to apply for the permanent residency card i.e. you have to prove that while you were a student/self sufficient you had CSI over the five year period. Is it necessary also to apply for the residence card?

Richard W wrote: Possibly, but applying for a family permit seems to have been a bad idea in your case.

Oh dear, we only ended up applying for the FM permit because we were advised on two separate calls to the visa information centre that we should, in order to facilitate entry into the UK. And that it would be straight forward. We thought it better to just be safe! This does, however, lead me to question how they can possibly deny us the FM permit if my wife already has the right to enter the UK, and we provided all the necessary paperwork?

I will look into cancelling the visa, but I'm not sure if that carries any penalties etc.

Thank you once again for your advice, I wish I had found these forums before we made our application!

Just to provide an update, and ask further questions!

We are leaning towards withdrawing our FP application to receive my wife's passport back sooner. We are then considering entering the UK using her Article 10 Residence Card which we have successfully done before. The last time we entered, her passport was stamped with "EEA Regulations" Valid for 6 months. The question we have is whether or not this will be sufficient to provide proof of right to work? So far we have found conflicting answers, with some saying you can apply for an NI number and your employer will accept it as proof of work. However, others have said that it's not acceptable as it does not explicitly state that she has the right to work?

My question is, by entering on the Article 10 Residence Card and receiving an "EEA Regulations" stamp can she provided any proof that she can legally work and apply for an NI number BEFORE we apply for the UK Residency Card? Her job is due to start at the end of August so its not feasible that we will be able to enter, apply for a Residence Card and receive proof of application before that date? Is there anywhere we can find written proof of any of this?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Regards

Hi MikePasso,

Just came across your previous messages from last year and unfortunately i have also fallen a victim of wrong advise.
Please could you update us what you later did, as am also planning of withdrawing my eea family permit application, then use my valid visitor visa to enter Uk and then apply for eeafm residence card inside uk.
Please update us pls.
Thanks

when we used to travel to Uk with article 10 residence card, Passport was not stumped, and now i found it weird. Why they did not put any stump???

11(3).