EU Commission takes the UK to court

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

I wonder is the lack of security concern anything to do with cards being in a nasty foreign language.

Well spotted!

[docteurbenway]

The Home Office said: “We disagree with the commission’s opinion, which is not binding, and we will appeal. As the home secretary has said . . . we will not tolerate abuse of the free movement directive.”

It has been more than 8 years since it came out and more than 6 years since they were supposed to transpose the Directive and i am sure they have read it enough times to know what it says. Now May and HO are acting surprised as if it just came out today.

If they had concerns about possible abuse of the Directive they should have given solutions or proposed amendments way back in the day.

Regarding security concerns over EU cards, most Schengen states are now issuing biometric cards with fingerprints on them, for example Germany now only issues biometric ones with English descriptions see:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... skarte.JPG

So that argument is no longer valid.

The bottom line is they know their game is up and just trying to put a political spin on things to cover their bad policies. From all their rhetoric you feel like it is the BNP or the UKIP who are in power in the UK.

[docteurbenway]

Apparently the article that was posted in the Financial Times(and that i posted on this forum) is now quoted by other media sources as highly credible, see here:

http://www.thetrumpet.com/9356.8202.0.0 ... ration-law

Quote:

"The other issue relates to the Commission wanting Britain to allow family members of EU citizens to be able to apply for UK residency. As the Financial Times explains it, “This would entitle, for instance, an Afghan national in London to apply for residence in Britain on the basis of their Italian brother living in Rome.”

The fact that the EU is able to boss Britain around on this, with Britain’s only response being to appeal, shows how much power Britain has given up to Europe."

[mEEA]

... The fact that the EU is able to boss Britain around on this, with Britain’s only response being to appeal, shows how much power Britain has given up to Europe....

If UK is in EU then it needs to follow the rules as long as they are in place. It is as simple as it is. A union by definition has no individual oriented goal, but tries to make every member satisfied. This defines an equilibrium, meaning UK is able to suggest changes in the laws in its own way and insist on them. But this does not give them right to violate laws as long as they are in place.

[docteurbenway]

News about UKBA

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... daily.html

[mEEA]

News about UKBA

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... daily.html

Hello docteurbenway,

why don't you use the url possibility of this website? it is very neat.

For example you could write: Read this news about UKBA.

Rgds, meea

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Alleged spokesman or not, this is what the UKBA has to say (or rather not to say) on the matter.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/news- ... ancitizens

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Alleged spokesman or not, this is what the UKBA has to say (or rather not to say) on the matter.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/news- ... ancitizens

I do not see anything about the EC action on this page. Or am I overlooking something?

[vinny]

(or rather not to say)

[docteurbenway]

I know i have asked this before, but here i go again:

1.Is there a chance that the UK would listen to the EC and fix the mess by 26 of June?

2.If not and they do put up a fight till the bitter end, how long are you predicting that is going to take?

Thanks

[docteurbenway]

Looks like the UKBA is not focusing on silly matters like fighting drugs and weapon smuggling,but rather concentrating on combating the real enemy, evil "benefit tourists" from the EU their family members and other "immigrants".

More here

On a lighter note here is a suggestion by one famous British TV personality on how to make things easier in Heathrow, apparently all you need is beloved

Here

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

1.Is there a chance that the UK would listen to the EC and fix the mess by 26 of June?

2.If not and they do put up a fight till the bitter end, how long are you predicting that is going to take?

Nobody here is qualified to say. It is largely a political decision for the UK as to how to proceed.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Looks like the UKBA is not focusing on silly matters like fighting drugs and weapon smuggling,but rather concentrating on combating the real enemy, evil "benefit tourists" from the EU their family members and other "immigrants".

More here

On a lighter note here is a suggestion by one famous British TV personality on how to make things easier in Heathrow, apparently all you need is beloved

Here

I liked it when you quoted the full URL (I could decide to read the source of not). Pros and cons - eh.

[mEEA]

... I liked it when you quoted the full URL (I could decide to read the source of not). Pros and cons - eh...

if you mouse-over the link in url form you see the full link in most of the browsers on left-down edge of the screen.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

So it does. I did prefer the old way though. Instead of typing here, one could have a more descriptive title.

(I'm too old for this computer stuff!).

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

If you just say here or here or here then it is better to just provide the full URL

If you have a nice descriptive text, then it fine to use that as the text and have the URL hidden

[docteurbenway]

My wife and i, just came back from Belfast. We originally flew from Germany to Dublin, which was easy enough, i had the Directive and all sorts of printouts with me. In Dublin the IO looked at my card, i saw he was a bit reluctant, so i said: "my wife is traveling with me, would you like our marriage certificate as well?" he was relieved and said yes. He did stamp my passport, but i let it slide.

We spent a few good days in Dublin, then rented a car and drove to Belfast, no controls at all, had a great day in the UK, visited the Titanic exhibition and drove back to Dublin.

Flew from Dublin to to Germany, there was no immigration on the way back from Dublin to Germany so no one stamped my passport out. In Germany passed a German IO and went home.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Good for you, could you update your experience in the other thread you frequent. Thanks.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... &start=120

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

My wife and i, just came back from Belfast. We originally flew from Germany to Dublin, which was easy enough, i had the Directive and all sorts of printouts with me. In Dublin the IO looked at my card, i saw he was a bit reluctant, so i said: "my wife is traveling with me, would you like our marriage certificate as well?" he was relieved and said yes. He did stamp my passport, but i let it slide.

Do you have a German issued Residence Card?

I did this with my wife in Ireland. It was the one time we used MRAX. http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... to-travel/

[docteurbenway]

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) - recently branded "not fit for purpose" - paid £3.5m in performance-related bonuses to staff in one year

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18010568

[docteurbenway]

Do you have a German issued Residence Card?

Yes i have a German issued card of a Family Member. We did also take a bunch of print outs about the Directive and even UK EEA immigration Regulations 2006(for Belfast), but we never used them, no need.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

So even though you had a RC, there was still a little problem at Dublin airport? You had to show your marriage certificate?

[docteurbenway]

So even though you had a RC, there was still a little problem at Dublin airport? You had to show your marriage certificate?

Well i would not call it a problem, the whole thing lasted 5 minutes at most. We exited the plane and went to the "all passports" stand.

I went first and my wife was standing by my side, i handed the IO my German Family Member card and my passport.

He looked at the card for 10 seconds or so and said "so you are married to someone in the EU?" i said "here is my wife traveling with me", at this point she gave him her EU passport so he had both now and was relaxed even smiled at us.

I said "you want the marriage certificate as well?", he said "yes cuz it doesn't say..."

He did not finish the sentence, but i gathered he wanted to say "doesn't say the name of the spouse on the card"

He smiled again and said "are you on holiday?" we said yes, he asked "how long are you planning on staying?" we said 5 days and then he stamped my passport with a green stamp that said "Temporary visitors permit, valid for 90 days, without recourse to public funds"

On the way out from Dublin to Germany there was no IOs at all so we directly boarded the plane. So i never got a stamp out to confirm that we exited within the "90 days" which i found makes the whole point of stamping in the first place useless.

[docteurbenway]

Good article by the Daily Mail about the UKBA:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... ds-newsxml

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Normally I would not equate good and article with daily mail. The article is generally interesting. One point though is that the soundbite (the little tiny extract from the original report) is cherry picked for effect.