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Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help me with this problem.
I am a dual French/British citizen.
My wife is from the USA and she is on a spouse visa which has a 2-year probationary period (ends 2 June 2011).
Her next move could be to apply for ILR based on her marriage to me (the British citizen) but this costs £900. Then as soon as that is granted, she could apply for naturalisation which costs another £780.
That's a lot of money.
I have been told by a friend that there is another route via the European rules, specifically form EEA2 which allows famility member (From outside the EEA) to join their European partner/husband. This is free of charge to apply.
I realise now that I should have done that 2 years ago when we applied for the visa my wife is on now.
My question is: can I still do it now ? Or will the UKBA frown upon it because if they look at my wife's visa history, they will see that she is married to a Brit (me) and now we are applying under the EEA rules. Is there anything against doing that ?

fhumbert wrote:My wife is from the USA and she is on a spouse visa which has a 2-year probationary period (ends 2 June 2011).

That's pretty soon. Once she got ILR, there is no obligation to apply for naturalization. So she can just as well keep living in the UK with her ILR and only pay the 900 pounds.

fhumbert wrote:I have been told by a friend that there is another route via the European rules, specifically form EEA2 which allows famility member (From outside the EEA) to join their European partner/husband.

In the European system a settled status (called "permanent residence") is only achieved after five years. Do you really want to postpone your wife's settlement for that long, just to save some money?

If she wants to be naturalized, which she can do after the 5 years are up, she still needs to pay, as this falls solely into the national rules.

Hi Stefan,

My thinking was that if I can still get her to apply on EEA2 based on her marriage to me the Frenchman (rather than to the Brit), it will give her 5 years and it costs us nothing, and she can keep working if she wants to and if she wants to stay at home with the baby, she can do that too.

As she may want to take some time off work, our finances won't be as good as they are now, so if we can avoid forking out £900, it would be a good thing.

My only question is if it's still OK to apply under the European rules now (based on being married to a French citizen) even though 2 years ago she applied for a spouse visa (based on being married to a British citizen). Will the UKBA not find this strange and deny the application ?

Their decision can only be based on whether they accept your other nationality or not (and if you are exercising treaty rights as a French national). In light of the pending McCarthy case that's not totally clear though that case may be specific to those circumstances (Irish/British national who has always lived in the UK).

fhumbert wrote: My only question is if it's still OK to apply under the European rules now (based on being married to a French citizen) even though 2 years ago she applied for a spouse visa (based on being married to a British citizen). Will the UKBA not find this strange and deny the application ?

I believe there is no problem for you to apply under EU rules. I had the same question last year and I found some answers through a FOI request:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 069#337069

It worked for me.

Hi Trent,
That's very useful info, thanks
I still have a lingering doubt though.
It talks about my right to bring my wife into the UK and my right to choose which route to take (EEA or UK immigration).
The problem that I can foresee is that I already did bring my wife into the UK 2 years ago and I chose the UK route (not even realising that there was another one).
Now, 2 years later, having already brought my wife into the country, can I then apply for a new visa based on the EEA route ? Will that not sound alarm bells at the UKBA ?

Do you think I could actually ring them or write them a letter asking them exactly this question without making things more difficult for us?

fhumbert wrote:Will the UKBA not find this strange and deny the application ?

They may find it strange but that is irrelevant and certainly no reason to refuse the application. If you have a French passport, a genuine marriage (not a marriage of convenience) and are exercising treaty rights (e.g. working), the application for a Residence Card should be granted.
Anyway, just send in the EEA2 form and the supporting documentation and see what happens.

There are quite a number of dual nationals in UK and your result could apply to them as well.

Do keep us informed.

Thanks.

..

fhumbert,

Have you always lived in the UK? Have you ever had a French passport or ID card?

Are you presently working in the UK?