HELP! Visiting my non-EU mum in UK with my EU citizen wife..

[summerbreeze]

Hello everyone! I have a very urgent question, hope you can help me

I am turkish citizen (non eu) and live in Poland with my polish wife, i have got a residence card for 2 years which is valid till March 2016(this is my second card and the first card was also for 2 years). The card gives me right to work in Poland aswell and i have been working for an american metal industry company for more than 1 year. My wife is a teacher at a highschool. We both have regular income and quite good money in our bank accounts.

I and my wife together are planning to visit my mother in UK (for abt 10 days)... She is turkish citizen and has been married with my english step dad for 5 years and she has got a permanent residence card in UK.

My questions are simple..

1) Do i still need a VISA from british embassy while i am travelling together with my EU citizen wife to UK?

2) If i need a VISA, what kind of VISA must it be and what kind of forms and documents i need to prepare?

3) in this case, who must be my sponsor and who must write the invitation letter? my mum, my step dad or both? What kind of documents should they send to me? My mother is housewife and my step dad works and earn about 3K a month. Do i and my wife also have to prepare some financial documents aswell?

Hope you all got me. I found even very good tickets from wizzair but this visa thing really do my head in...

thank you all in advance
EMRAH

[el patron]

It would appear that as you are travelling with your Polish wife you would seek an EEA Family Permit to accompany her on the visit to the UK, I assume it is just a short visit?

UKUT of Bali (below) may be the one to rely upon if needs be.

https://tribunalsdecisions.service.gov. ... 3-ukut-570

[rosebead]

As el patron pointed out, EEA Family Permit is the visa you need. Your Polish wife would be the sponsor. Awarding of this visa falls under EU free movement laws as opposed to UK laws. For the application you need only submit your and your wife's passport and marriage certificate and a signed letter written by your wife to say that she will be accompanying you to the UK to visit her in-laws, and that is ALL that is legally necessary. If you wish you can also submit a letter of invitation from your mother and stepfather. The EEA FP form is far more complicated than it should be, which is probably deliberate on the xenophobic UK government's part. Given your situation, which is simply you and your wife visiting the UK, there are a LOT of questions that legally you don't need to answer on the EEA FP form. I would ignore all questions relating to your wife's employment, all questions relating to funds in the bank, and all questions regarding your UK residence/accommodation. I would simply write "Not applicable under Directive 2004/38/EC" to all such questions. Also ignore the question about Registration Certificate Number as it is irrelevant to your situation - just write 0000000 or your passport number.

Under EU law, the EEA FP should be issued to you for free and within 15 days. It should not take longer than 4 weeks (although sometimes inefficiency results in a longer period).

You can start your online visa application from here. Ignore some of the info on that webpage. It is inaccurate for your case, and the UK government should be ashamed for stating half-inaccurately that your wife needs to be exercising Treaty rights (i.e. employed, job-seeking, studying, etc) in the UK for you to get an EEA FP. Nonsense! This ONLY applies if your wife is already in the UK and has been there for over 3 months, but the UK has not stated that clearly on its website and it is in no way applicable to your situation. I can't help but think it's just deliberate xenophobic misinformation on the UK government's part.

[el patron]

As el patron pointed out, EEA Family Permit is the visa you need. Your Polish wife would be the sponsor. Awarding of this visa falls under EU free movement laws as opposed to UK laws. For the application you need only submit your and your wife's passport and marriage certificate and a signed letter written by your wife to say that she will be accompanying you to the UK to visit her in-laws, and that is ALL that is legally necessary. If you wish you can also submit a letter of invitation from your mother and stepfather. The EEA FP form is far more complicated than it should be, which is probably deliberate on the xenophobic UK government's part. Given your situation, which is simply you and your wife visiting the UK, there are a LOT of questions that legally you don't need to answer on the EEA FP form. I would ignore all questions relating to your wife's employment, all questions relating to funds in the bank, and all questions regarding your UK residence/accommodation. I would simply write "Not applicable under Directive 2004/38/EC" to all such questions. Also ignore the question about Registration Certificate Number as it is irrelevant to your situation - just write 0000000 or your passport number.

Under EU law, the EEA FP should be issued to you for free and within 15 days. It should not take longer than 4 weeks (although sometimes inefficiency results in a longer period).

You can start your online visa application from here. Ignore some of the info on that webpage. It is inaccurate for your case, and the UK government should be ashamed for stating half-inaccurately that your wife needs to be exercising Treaty rights (i.e. employed, job-seeking, studying, etc) in the UK for you to get an EEA FP. Nonsense! This ONLY applies if your wife is already in the UK and has been there for over 3 months, but the UK has not stated that clearly on its website and it is in no way applicable to your situation. I can't help but think it's just deliberate xenophobic misinformation on the UK government's part.

can't disagree with any of that advice rosebead!

[summerbreeze]

It would appear that as you are travelling with your Polish wife you would seek an EEA Family Permit to accompany her on the visit to the UK, I assume it is just a short visit?

UKUT of Bali (below) may be the one to rely upon if needs be.

https://tribunalsdecisions.service.gov. ... 3-ukut-570

Thank you very much, i will check the link you gave me. Yes, it will be for 10 days, in the winter/school holiday of my wife. We will of course come back to Poland and go on to work, we are quite happy beeing in here and we dont have any future plans about UK yet

As el patron pointed out, EEA Family Permit is the visa you need. Your Polish wife would be the sponsor. Awarding of this visa falls under EU free movement laws as opposed to UK laws. For the application you need only submit your and your wife's passport and marriage certificate and a signed letter written by your wife to say that she will be accompanying you to the UK to visit her in-laws, and that is ALL that is legally necessary. If you wish you can also submit a letter of invitation from your mother and stepfather. The EEA FP form is far more complicated than it should be, which is probably deliberate on the xenophobic UK government's part. Given your situation, which is simply you and your wife visiting the UK, there are a LOT of questions that legally you don't need to answer on the EEA FP form. I would ignore all questions relating to your wife's employment, all questions relating to funds in the bank, and all questions regarding your UK residence/accommodation. I would simply write "Not applicable under Directive 2004/38/EC" to all such questions. Also ignore the question about Registration Certificate Number as it is irrelevant to your situation - just write 0000000 or your passport number.

Under EU law, the EEA FP should be issued to you for free and within 15 days. It should not take longer than 4 weeks (although sometimes inefficiency results in a longer period).

You can start your online visa application from here. Ignore some of the info on that webpage. It is inaccurate for your case, and the UK government should be ashamed for stating half-inaccurately that your wife needs to be exercising Treaty rights (i.e. employed, job-seeking, studying, etc) in the UK for you to get an EEA FP. Nonsense! This ONLY applies if your wife is already in the UK and has been there for over 3 months, but the UK has not stated that clearly on its website and it is in no way applicable to your situation. I can't help but think it's just deliberate xenophobic misinformation on the UK government's part.

Thank you very much too, such a detailed answer. Yes now i have just checked the VAF5 form and there are too many questions in it!

* for example, MY EMPLOYEMENT (PART 5 IN THE FORM), there are questions like my monthly income, the name of my company, the telephone and email of my manager etc. do i have to answer these?

*part 8.2 YOUR RELATIONSHIP - SPOUSE/CIVIL PARTNER/UNMARRIED PARTNER DETAILS (when did we meet, how often we see eachother, when did our relationship start, how do we keep in touch, when did i saw her last etc etc.(she has been my wife for 4 years, what stupid questions, arent they?) do i have to answer this private questions aswel?

* here it says 8.3.8 If the EEA National is not in the UK will you be travelling to the UK together? YES or NO / Go to 8.6 ‘Your EEA Residency’ so i will put a cross in YES and jump to 8.6 ‘Your EEA Residency’ and this means i will be ignoring the questions of my wife's employement-financial questions etc, yes? because they are standing before the 8.6 part

* part 8.6 - Your EEA Residency
8.6.1 Do you have a valid residence card or visa for an EEA member country? If ‘Yes’ go to Part 9 so my answer will be YES and i will jump to part 9 and related to this part, do i have to send them my residence card or its copy?

the rest seem OK to me in the form.. just these are my questions and i really need your opininons about them..

thank you very much again, my questions for some, may not sound very special but i believe the possible answers of them will be very helpful for the people in my situation right now or in the future..

[rosebead]

I would only answer to confirm that you are married and when you were married, but I would ignore all the other intrusive questions - I think those other questions are more geared toward unmarried partners and newlyweds rather than to couples who have been married a while because the UK government suspects everyone is in a sham marriage or relationship .

I would suggest writing in Part 9 "Additional Information" that you are only coming for a holiday with your wife to visit your parents, and as per Directive 2004/38/EC you have enclosed your passport, a copy of your spouse's passport, marriage certificate, and a letter from your wife to confirm that she will be accompanying you to the UK to visit her in-laws.

It might be worth enclosing a signed invitation letter from your mother and stepfather with their UK address on it. This is not legally required but it might help to speed things along.

Part 5 of the form does not apply to spouses so ignore that.

You are not legally required to provide evidence of your Polish residence card, but perhaps to avoid less xenophobic scrutiny of your application by visa staff it might be worth including it to help things along.

As the spouse of an EEA citizen you have automatic rights under EU law to enter a host Member State when joining or accompanying your spouse to that Member State - the trouble is that some Member States like the UK like to put up barriers to free movement.

[summerbreeze]

I would only answer to confirm that you are married and when you were married, but I would ignore all the other intrusive questions - I think those other questions are more geared toward unmarried partners and newlyweds rather than to couples who have been married a while because the UK government suspects everyone is in a sham marriage or relationship .

I would suggest writing in Part 9 "Additional Information" that you are only coming for a holiday with your wife to visit your parents, and as per Directive 2004/38/EC you have enclosed your passport, a copy of your spouse's passport, marriage certificate, and a letter from your wife to confirm that she will be accompanying you to the UK to visit her in-laws.

It might be worth enclosing a signed invitation letter from your mother and stepfather with their UK address on it. This is not legally required but it might help to speed things along.

Part 5 of the form does not apply to spouses so ignore that.

You are not legally required to provide evidence of your Polish residence card, but perhaps to avoid less xenophobic scrutiny of your application by visa staff it might be worth including it to help things along.

As the spouse of an EEA citizen you have automatic rights under EU law to enter a host Member State when joining or accompanying your spouse to that Member State - the trouble is that some Member States like the UK like to put up barriers to free movement.

you are simply a star, you are helping really a lot.

about the PART 5... if you didnt tell me this, i would propably fill it, because i didnt read the upper part

Code: Select all

TO BE COMPLETED BY
- extended family members of an EEA national applying on the basis that they are dependent on that EEA national, or
- dependent direct family members ([b]this does not include spouses[/b], civil partners or children under the age of 21)

so my concern related to part 5 also gone now

the rest of things you write are also very helful, i will deffinately follow them..

thank you very much i will update this thread if i have another question or when i get or not get the EEA FP we will see

[suwarrowblues]

I am so sorry if this post is not in the right category, I can't seem to figure out where to post a question.

I am from the Netherlands but living in the UK with my Nigerian husband. He has a residence card (partner of an EEA National). I will be going to Holland soon to give birth (and return probably after 2 months). He will be joining me about two weeks later. Does he need a visa, since he is "joining me" in the Netherlands or does this only counts if he is joining me in the UK (where I am exercising my treaty rights)?

Please let me know, so I will be able to relax my mind and focus on giving birth
Thank you so much