UK National in Germany with non-EEA Wife - UK Visit Options?

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Hi,

This board has already proved to be a massive help, and I've discovered the EEA Family Permit route which may be exactly what we're looking for. However, I wanted to explain our situation and ask if anyone had suggestions on the best (cheapest/least stress/most reliable etc.) long-term solution for us - I've read a lot but would rather get the community's opinion! This is our situation:

• I am a UK national and I have been living and working in Germany for 8 years.

• My wife is a Russian citizen (i.e. non-EEA visa national) and has been living and working in Germany for 12 years.

• She has a German residence card (Aufenthaltserlaubnis), granted through the length of time she has stayed in the country. This also counts as her Schengen visa.

• We got married just over 1 year ago, and were living together prior to that for 4 years.

• We both intend to stay living and working in Germany indefinitely but frequently want to travel together to the UK for short (few days) visits for tourism, visiting my family etc.

So...my question is, long-term, what's the best solution for us? It seems from the UKBA guidance that there's a lot of information on what to do if we want to move to the UK, but not a lot on what to do if we want to maintain our present situation. The options we think we have are:

• 1) Apply for a 5/10 year General Visit visa or a Family Visit visa naming my parents. This is a very expensive way to go!

• 2) My wife can apply for a German passport. Would clear up all problems but Germany requires her to give up her Russian passport, which is not really an option (as she wants to be able to visit family easily).

• 3) Claim (as suggested in articles here) at the border that under EU law we have a right to visa-free entry to the UK as she holds another EEA state's residence card. Seems from people's experience that this can be a tricky one to claim and may lead to more stress than we want!

• 4) Apply for an EEA Family Permit. This could be the way to go, but it only last for 6 months which means an expensive trip for biometric registration every 6 months (there's no VAC near us). Also there's some suggestion that this is only for moving to the UK (or is it also good for occasional short visits)?

• 5) Apply to the UKBA for a Residence Card, and eventually a Permanent Residence Card. This seems to be the best long term approach, but I'm not clear on whether we would qualify as we're not living in the UK.

I think I have all the options there, and to us options 4 and 5 look like the best routes to go. I'd be immensely grateful for any advice or guidance the more experience (than us!) people here can provide on whether these indeed are the best options or whether either of them would cause us any problems.

Thank you!!

[Jambo]

Option 3 would only work if you travel by land. If flying, the airline will not allow her to board without a visa (at least until the UK would recognise other EU states residence card).

Option 4 is OK for short visit as well. Not just relocating. See EUN2.14 Can family members of British citizens qualify for an EEA family permit? ('Surinder Singh' cases).

Option 5 is only applicable if you live in the UK.

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Thanks so much for the quick reply, it's really helpful to have another opinion - my head was spinning reading all the various links online! It does indeed look like EUN2.14 covers our situation, it's the "before the British citizen returned to the UK." in that text that had previously worried me - I didn't know if it only covered returning to live in the UK.

It certainly does seem that Option 4 is the best way to go. My only issue now is that it appears like it means re-applying every 6 months and therefore re-registering the biometrics again. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Thanks again...hopefully this helps others in a similar situation - this board has been a godsend after spending hours reading UKBA websites!!

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Thanks so much for the quick reply, it's really helpful to have another opinion - my head was spinning reading all the various links online! It does indeed look like EUN2.14 covers our situation, it's the "before the British citizen returned to the UK." in that text that had previously worried me - I didn't know if it only covered returning to live in the UK.

It certainly does seem that Option 4 is the best way to go. My only issue now is that it appears like it means re-applying every 6 months and therefore re-registering the biometrics again. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Thanks again...hopefully this helps others in a similar situation - this board has been a godsend after spending hours reading UKBA websites!!

Yes, one would need to provide biometrics every time (the visa will only last six months). There are options under the immigration rules that might provide a longer period, but they would not be free of charge.