US wrote:Thanks Jaj. I am a naturalised British Citizen. My spouse cannot apply now because she does not pass 3 years residence test in the UK.
In that case you have some serious thinking to do.
Germany
You should be able to sponsor your spouse for a visa for Germany (the German equivalent of an EEA Family Permit), however she will:
a. risk losing her ILR (see below); and
b. she will
not have any entitlement to German citizenship. Perhaps if she gets permanent residence after 5 or so years and lives in Germany for 8 years in total then it might be possible, not otherwise.
Switzerland
Switzerland is not in the EEA, however there is an agreement in place which allows British and other EEA citizens to work in Switzerland subject to certain restrictions and quota numbers until 2012 or so. For details on how this works, and on what the visa situation for your wife would be, you should contact the Swiss Embassy.
It will be even harder for your wife to get Swiss citizenship compared to German citizenship. As a minimum, 12 years residence in Switzerland is required, and individual cantons and municipalities can (and do!) set additional requirements that are even tougher.
UK ILR
So you've seen that even if you can sponsor your wife for a visa to live in Germany or Switzerland, it's going to be a long time - if ever - before she could get a German or Swiss passport. And she will not be eligible for British citizenship if she leaves the UK either.
On top of that, once she is no longer living in the UK, and certainly once she's away for more than 2 years, she will lose her ILR. It may be possible for her to apply for a returning resident entry clearance if she is still married to you (seek professional advice to find out if this could work, or check
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk), or you could sponsor her for a spouse visa again if you were still together, but that would involve more delay and costs.
If you were to die (morbid thought - but these things do happen), she could be left in a difficult situation in the other country if she did not have permanent residence (depends how long she had lived there, under the new EEA immigration rules), without having any right to return to the United Kingdom. Even if she was allowed to stay - she would not necessarily be able to become a citizen.
What I'm saying really is that your wife would have much more security if she gets her own British passport before she leaves the United Kingdom. Not only would it mean she would have an
independent right to stay in the country concerned (maybe with exceptions for Switzerland) but she would also be able to come back to the UK independently in case things didn't work out.
That may mean you have to stay somewhat longer in the UK, so you have some serious thinking to do. How far is she from the 3 year residence mark, can you postpone your move, or leave her temporarily in the UK until she gets citizenship, do a weekly or bi-weekly commute, or whatever?
