Do we need to do anything?

[teo24]

Hi Folks,

A few weeks ago I posted the below.

"Hi,

I'm an Irish citizen living and working in the UK for the last 15 years.

My wife is a Colombian citizen, living and working in the UK for the past 7 years. We were married abroad 7 years ago.

She was originally given a 2 year entry clearance and then a 5 year Residence Card of a family member of an EEA National.

What are the next steps? Do we apply for ILR?

Hope you can help.
Thanks"

I got a very swift response from Lucapooka, stating;

"You both already have permanent residence through the EU route (subject to having exercised treaty rights for a continuous five year period). You can't apply for ILR as that is via UK immigration rules. However, you may confirm your status by applying for confirmation of your permanent residence."

We now plan to travel to Ireland in November for a family gathering. We have not applied for confirmation of my Wife's permanent residence and the expiry date on her 5 year residence card is end of October.

My query is whether or not she will be allowed to travel and return. Will we need to provide documentation at border control?

Again apologies if this question is in the wrong place but hopefully someone can help.

Thanks again.

[Gyfrinachgar]

We have not applied for confirmation of my Wife's permanent residence and the expiry date on her 5 year residence card is end of October.

Then why on earth didn't you fill out the paperwork in time? A few months ago this would have been a no-brainer, but on such short notice you will not be able to complete any residency application (processing times between 2 and 5 months on average). You will have to work with what you have. Which will be expired by the time you need it. You can still try cross the border, but instead of just showing the border staff a piece of paper, you will have a lot of explaining to do. Based on EU regulations, I think it should still be possible without major problems, but won't be as fast and straightforward. Take both your passports, the marriage certificate (it better be in English, otherwise take a certified translation along, or the process will take even longer), your permanent residency card and her expired residency card along. Since the latter expired fairly recently, you can argue that the follow-up documentation has not arrived yet.

Again apologies if this question is in the wrong place but hopefully someone can help.

You could have continued in the existing thread.