EEA3/4 under Surinder Singh - help?!

[megmog]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice regarding our future EEA applications?

Here’s the situation – Me (UK Citizen), husband (South African). Met nearly 10 years ago, married for 6 of those. After living here for the first couple of years, we moved to South Africa and then to Ireland where we stayed for 2 years. Due to my exercising treaty rights, we were able to apply for an EEA Family Permit under the Surinder Singh ruling. That was nearly 5 years ago. We came to the UK with an Entry permit in October 2008. We applied for the permit shortly after and my husband finally received his “Residence Card” in December 2009.

I have a few questions…

Are we able to apply for permanent residence in October this year (which will be 5 years of continuous residence since we arrived and started working) or is it better to wait until December 2014, which would make it 5 years since the permit/card was issued?

I understand that applying for EEA3 at the same time is usually advantageous, but as I am technically a British citizen, is this an option for me?

Some background – I have been continually employed since we arrived, and prior to that the same in Ireland. My husband has been continually employed since he arrived in October 2008. We travelled from Kerry airport in October 2008, and his passport was not stamped on entry because they rarely have border control in place, although we have other evidence we arrived then (rent, bills, employment etc). Would this be an issue?

Other (possibly) important info: when we left the UK 8 years ago, my husband had overstayed his visa. We left of our own accord but this was noted on his record at the time, on our way out of Heathrow. We were upfront about this in our original application to the British embassy in Dublin when we applied for the EEA FP and it was still granted so I assume this would not be an issue applying for permanent residence, given that we have followed the rules since? I would also note that we have travelled outside of the country twice, and both times been treated appallingly which has concerned us about what is actually on his record vs. the real life facts. In the first instance, his Residence Card was in progress (entry permit expired in the meantime), and he was refused entry to board the plane back to London. We spent 2 days trapped in Doha airport and ended up having to fly to Ireland via Turkey to re-enter the country! The British embassy in Doha told us that we had essentially ” cancelled his application for a residence permit by leaving the country” even though I spoke to someone at HO before we travelled who re-assured me it would be fine. This turned out to be rubbish as the letter from HO asking for his passport so the RC could be issued was waiting on the door mat when we returned! His RC was granted a couple of weeks later. The second time, after Doha incident, we had issues re-entering from Calais where they asked us questions about a visa application/refusal made in Durban – neither of us have ever been here let alone applied for a visa from there?! they had all sorts of weird questions. It took over an hour of questioning to be allowed to pass through, even with our passports, marriage certificate AND a residence card. Needless to say, we haven’t been on holiday since as we're terrified!

I only share this info above as it’s made us a bit paranoid and I am seriously wondering if we should consult the services of a good solicitor when the time comes to make the Permanent Residence application – any thoughts on this?

[megmog]

I was also wondering... the end goal is to get my husband naturalisation/british citizenship. Do we apply for this after he gets PR or does he need to wait longer?

[Jambo]

See Q5 in EEA FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting - Surinder Singh.

[megmog]

Thanks Jambo, that's very helpful. So if I understand correctly, I will need to provide pretty much the same evidence as last time around, of me working/living in Ireland, along with the other supporting documents?

It doesn't mention anything about me applying/not applying for EEA3 - presumably this will not have an impact on my hubands EEA4?

(Apologies if I'm covering oldground, I know how it works around here but I'm a little rusty and trying to get up to speed again! )

[Jambo]

As British you can't (and not required to) apply for EEA3.

If the goal is British citizenship, you may want to skip the EEA4 application as this application is optional. The downside applying for EEA4 is that it can take 6 months. The upside is that it will make your naturalisation application more "standard". If you decide to save time and skip it, I suggest you explain your circumstances clearly on the naturalisation application as the caseworker doesn't see a Surinder Singh application everyday.