Non EU National Joining EU National....

[Irishdaves1975]

Some Help Please Guys and Gals!!!!

Thanks to some posts I have seen already, I hope people can confirm if I have this right, I am a British Citizen married to a Russian Citizen, do I understand correct, if I move to Europe where she can use a Schengen Visa to enter this said Country that I have just moved to, she then has the right to apply for a residence permit of the said Country as she is the wife of an EU National??

At this point we are not interested in moving to the UK, the most important thing for us is just being together in the same Country for the next year or two, I have seen so many posts about different things I had lost all hope, but after seeing some posts tonight about using the Schengen Visa to enter the country she can then apply for a said permit, if I have this right it could really be a load off my mind and a great help.

Can someone please advise...and set me right..

Thank you so much

[chaoclive]

Basically correct. However, to clarify - she will only get a residence permit if the EEA national is exercising his/her EU Treaty Rights (working/self-employed/student with health insurance/self-sufficient with health insurance).

Just contact the Embassy of the country where you would like to work to organize an entry visa for her. My experiences with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing was super smooth each time. However, the Spanish Embassy were a bit more demanding (but I shouted them down and got the visa quite easily - hehe).

[Irishdaves1975]

Hi

Thank you for your reply, can I ask where you moved to? And how you found it? I think the biggest fear is not knowing the language and how to start looking for some kind of work to get by. Though if I stay in the situation we are in now she will never get into the UK to live with me, so Europe is the only chance we have to keep our marriage together.

I want to thank you again, I was hoping you would get in touch as I had seen your posts to other people and you seem to know your stuff, as I don't know a great deal, thank you.

[chaoclive]

Actually, we didn't move long term. We just went on holiday to the Netherlands (two visas so far) and Spain (one visa). The Netherlands wouldn't be a big problem re: language - English is spoken all over!

Why not try to get a job as an English teacher in Spain? I considered it but as I didn't want to dance all the way around Europe just to take my civil partner to the UK, I renounced British citizenship in February and relied on my Irish citizenship to apply for his EEA FP today. You can find info on English jobs in EEA countries on: http://www.tefl.com. You can search the database by country. Otherwise, you could just search on Google for other posts. Of course, it may be the case that you might only get a job in a coffeeshop or bar, which satisfies the requirements under the EEA directive, if you do about 15 hours per week. However, you won't earn a lot and you will need to find a company which gives you pay slips/contract/letters of employment etc as these will need to be provided for the application under Surinder Singh.

When we went to apply for his EEA FP (UK entry permit today) we were told that it's not valid for people who want to ACCOMPANY an EEA citizen to the UK. Apparently, I have to be working in the UK for 6 months before they would accept the application! Utter B/S of course...being me, I shouted the house down and finally they accepted the application. Hehe.

I really have to learn to control my temper...

Dave: Do you have Irish citizenship? If not, why not consider working in Ireland? No language barrier at least and you can always pop across the border into NI to do your cheap shopping (that's where I'm from). However, judging by your username, you might have Irish citizenship too...therefore, this might not work.

Europe will work at present, but remember there is the real threat that the UK will leave the EEA - of course I'm not trying to scare you, but it might be good to get plans in place ASAP, rather than wait another year... We are planning to leave China and go to the UK this summer (August).

If you have any specific questions, please just ask. I'm not an expert but am willing to share what I know with you (and I'm sure other people will pass on their knowledge too).

[Irishdaves1975]

Ah thank you, im from Northern Ireland as well, still living in the North, I had considered going down South and working there, but after reading about the Irish permit, it put me off, as there is a 6-8 month waiting list and going on what people are saying, first time refusals are very very high, so it would prob mean applying a few times with a 6-8 month waiting time every application.

It is a total head-****....and I have a wife in Moscow asking me everyday what we are doing, I mean I understand why she is getting upset, we have been travelling the world meeting up every 2-3 months now for 3 years, nearly married a year now and nothing has moved forward really.

As for renouncing my Britishness lol, I had spoke to a lawyer in Belfast about this and she said it was very difficult to do, as you did I had thought of doing that and taking up an Irish passport.

It is nice to talk to someone who knows some things for a change, the more you read about different visas etc, the more you get lost in different things, if I could make one decision and stick with it and see it through, but you always find yourself against a wall.

[Irishdaves1975]

chaoclive having just read all the information on Irish Naturlisation and Immigration Service website and the information on Citizens Information.ie . I can say that using my British Passport across the border will work for us and I see a way out at last, I don't know if I got confused the first time I saw all this information, but now reading it, there is nothing to stop us from doing that, even if the application process could be dragged out alittle.

I only have to be living there a few weeks looking for work or working and I can start the application for my wife to join me, it is such a load off my mind, though im gonna meet with a lawyer next Monday to make the situation clear for me and make sure I have all the facts right, but it looks good.

[chaoclive]

Have you ever had an Irish passport? If not, then using your British passport to work in ROI would work for sure. The application process is more complex than the UK one but, in the end, you would get the same result. You could always work just across the border in ROI and still be able to visit your family when you need to in NI. Of course, your wife would have to live with you in ROI. In all your dealing with the Irish authorities you would simply make yourself known as British.

I renounced British citizenship as I have also held an Irish passport for a long long time and it was quite easy to do so (even though it cost 187GBP!!!!). I am thinking that I would like my partner to get Irish citizenship as it only takes 3 years before he can apply. UK citizenship requires him to be in the UK for 6 years (as I'm no longer British). He doesn't really care about that but I think it's important so we can move around Europe freely (as long as Ireland doesn't withdraw from the UK any time soon!).

More info here:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Surinder_Singh
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=804420
http://crossborderlegal.co.uk/content/e ... ngh-route/