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Hello everyone,

I'd be grateful if someone could answer the following question as despite a very thorough search of the UKBA website I can't find a definititive answer.

FYI, I am British citizen with a non-EU wife (Peru) and we were living and working in Spain until earlier this year when we relocated to the UK.

We successfully applied for an EEA visa on this basis but it runs out in January. My wife has been granted a NI number but her English is not great.

So, having used the above route to enter the UK can my wife now apply for the FREE residence card on the basis on my EEA citizen status? Or do we have to go down the other - expensive but faster - route of applying for Leave to Remain?

Thanks in advance,

Beany

Yes

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:Yes

yes

Many thanks for the replies - especially as they feature the answer I hoped - though I may not be saying that when the UKBA Liverpool office holds on to our passports for eternity next year.

Daddy, we lived in Barcelona for two years having married in Peru in early 2009. Once we decided we were moving to the UK and wanted to pursue the EEA entry clearance route we gathered the following documentation:

Original Peruvian marriage certificate as well as the official legalized translation of that document which we obtained from the Births, Death and Marriages office in the UK - having lodged the same papers via the British Embassy in Lima in 2009.

My entire Spanish work history, including payslips, joint tax returns and the local empadrimiento (Padron) documents for two years (as we changed flats after one year), as well as my Spanish residence certificate (showing my NIE), plus my wife's Spanish residence card (if only it was as easy to obtain here in the UK!).

A legalized photocopy of the biometric page of my British passport. I had this done at the British Embassy in Barcelona and it cost about 40 euros for two minutes of their time.

We also supplied a one paragraph letter on headed paper from my employer confirming I was in full-time employment and based in the UK.

In addition, I sent my last three UK payslips and a siigned letter from the friend with who I was lodging saying he was prepared to let my wife lodge with him until we found a place of our own. I also included two recent bills in his name showing the address.

Finally, I supplied a signed letter of invitation briefly explaining why we were leaving Spain and moving to the UK.

Once we completed the visa application form online my wife visited the British Embassy in Madrid and handed over all the above paperwork (copies and originals must be taken along).

Unfortunately, the first time she went she didn't hand over my work history so our application was rejected.

Another flight/hotel stay later she repeated the process and the visa was issued within 5-10 working days, with confirmation sent via email.

Hope this info helps, any further questions please post them below. In my experience with embassies and consulates, it's always better to supply too much paperwork than too little.

Regards,

Beany

I would be interested in you and wife's experiences entering Spain from Peru. What did you do, apply for Schengen, with what? Did you apply for RC in Spain? Spain does not require EU nationals to be exercising treaty rights as far as I can see.

The UK does not require any documents to be legalised (translated, yes, legalised no). There is a note that photocopies of the EU spouse's passport must be endorsed by their embassy. This does not amount to legalisation, not is is mandatory (as advised by BHC in India).

Spain does though. This leads to disappointment. The European Commission supports Spain's position on this as far as I can see.

I am British citizen with a non-EU wife (Peru) and we were living and working in Spain

That being the case you can use the Surinder Singh route, so yes, your wife can use form EEA2 to apply for a Residence Card.

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:I would be interested in you and wife's experiences entering Spain from Peru. What did you do, apply for Schengen, with what? Did you apply for RC in Spain? Spain does not require EU nationals to be exercising treaty rights as far as I can see.

Yes, we applied for a Schengen visa but the path was long and full of obstacles. The Spanish government does everything it can to "hide" the relevant information on its various websites.

I honestly can't recall every step we took for the Schengen visa, but I know several documents had to be notarized in Barcelona (as I was living there) and that the local/regional/Catalan College of notaries then had to notarize the notarizations!

I also had to get some documents - Peruvian marriage certificate I think - legalized by the Peruvian Consulate in Barcelona, but they would only legalize notarized documents from local notaries.

Off the top of my head, I had to obtain/legalize/notarize our marriage certificate, my birth certificate, my Spanish residence certificate, my Spanish Padron certificate, photocopy of my passport. Plus a letter of invitation (Carta Simple).

Once my wife arrived in Spain we then had to translate - using an official translator - legalized versions of my birth certificate and our Peruvian marriage certificate - which had been lodged with BDM office in the UK via the British Embassy in Lima.

When we had our interview for the Spanish residence card we were almost rejected as the woman refused to accept the UK version of our marriage certificate. This occurred because the UK government does not issue UK marriage certificates for marriages in Peru (and other countries too, no doubt). Once I explained this point in the strongest possible terms, she relented and we got the card a few days later.

Regards,

Beany

Thanks for the feedback. One thing the UK does well is accepting foreign documents.