Can I apply for EEA Family Permit while in UK as tourist ?

[ChristineRH]

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help. I am a German national living in the UK for over 10years with a permanent residence card. My husband is Jamaican. He came over for 6 months under a travel visa and we got married here in the UK in Feb 18. He returned to Jamaica a couple off weeks after which we immediately applied for the Spouse Visa, paid the fee, sent the documents and biometrics were done.

Today someone told me that years ago she did something similar and their visa was denied after a long wait and she was told she had to apply for an EEA Family Permit. I am freaking out now that this s going to happen to me. The current processing time for the Spouse Visa from Jamaica is up to 6 months. I am worried I not only wasted money but also time we need to spend apart. Can anyone advise if the above is the correct and what my options are? If this is the case can I stop the Spouse Visa to get the passport back and apply for the EE permit?

Please help! Thank you

[Osafidence]

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help. I am a German national living in the UK for over 10years with a permanent residence card. My husband is Jamaican. He came over for 6 months under a travel visa and we got married here in the UK in Feb 18. He returned to Jamaica a couple off weeks after which we immediately applied for the Spouse Visa, paid the fee, sent the documents and biometrics were done.

Today someone told me that years ago she did something similar and their visa was denied after a long wait and she was told she had to apply for an EEA Family Permit. I am freaking out now that this s going to happen to me. The current processing time for the Spouse Visa from Jamaica is up to 6 months. I am worried I not only wasted money but also time we need to spend apart. Can anyone advise if the above is the correct and what my options are? If this is the case can I stop the Spouse Visa to get the passport back and apply for the EE permit?

Please help! Thank you

You have used the UK immigration spouse visa route which is wrong and also expensive. Your are to apply for your husband EEA family permit which to the best of my knowledge no visa fee. Go on gov.uk website where you can withdraw your application or someone here may be able to send you the link.... for sure you are to apply EEA family permit.

[ChristineRH]

Hi Osafidence,
What a nightmare. I assume I can't get my fees back. But I saw on the application for the family permit that they ask for a return date of the applicant. I want him to stay and work here. I assume he can work here under the permit?

[ChristineRH]

So my post got deleted as I posted it in two bards and now the other one is blocked too. So I will start again.

I hope you can help. I am a German national living in the UK for over 10years with a permanent residence card. My husband is Jamaican. He came over for 6 months under a travel visa and we got married here in the UK in Feb 18. He returned to Jamaica a couple off weeks after which we immediately applied for the Spouse Visa, paid the fee, sent the documents and biometrics were done.

Today someone told me that years ago she did something similar and their visa was denied after a long wait and she was told she had to apply for an EEA Family Permit. I am freaking out now that this s going to happen to me. The current processing time for the Spouse Visa from Jamaica is up to 6 months. I am worried I not only wasted money but also time we need to spend apart. Can anyone advise if the above is the correct and what my options are? If this is the case can I stop the Spouse Visa to get the passport back and apply for the EE permit?

Please help! Thank you

Update: I had a couple of people respond saying that I should have gone EEA with one person stating that because I have permanent residency the Spouse route will work. i have sent an email to immigration and asked what the situation is and if i should cancel my current application. I am very concerned and confused. Any more clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ChristineRH]

Hi there,

We have mistakenly applied for the settlement visa but should have app;lied for the EEA family permit. So we have withdrawn a few weeks ago and they have still not returned the documents. I am extremely concerned about the time the Home office takes to sort things out.

Our plan at the moment was to immediately apply for the EEA Family Permit when we receive the documents back but they also seem to take months rather than weeks to sign these off.

Now I am wondering if he should come over as a spouse. We have legally married in the UK in February and my husband returned to Jamaica in March. We have a 2nd Ceremony with his family and Friends in Jamaica in June as well as our honeymoon. So if the baove is correct could he return with me to the UK if we were together on the flight with the marriage certificate and all or would he be denied at the airport? If this is an option he would enter the UK as my spouse and would get a 6month stamp. We would immediately apply for the residents card from the UK. However what would happen if the residents permit is not signed off in time? Also you are saying above that he wouldn't be able to get a job before he has the residents card?

From everyones experience what do you think would be the safer option. Apply for the EEA FP from Jamaica and wait or make him come over and apply from here for the residents card?

Thank you,

Christine

[CR001]

Topics/posts merged (click)

Kindly refrain from digging up topics from 2009 (your post now split from there) and tagging your questions on. Thanks

Your husbands rights are automatic as you are married.

Why did you not apply for a residence card after you married in the UK??

[ChristineRH]

Hi thanks for your reply. We did not know is the most simple answer to that. As we had friends that went through the settlement route we were so confident about the process only to later find out that i was the wrong route. As we have already wasted nearly £2000 we are so short on money that I really can't afford going through a lawyer who will charge me another £1000-£2000.

I am stuck now and don't really know what the best way is. I want to make sure we don't do the incorrect thing while making sure we can be together sooner rather than later.

Any advise would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks you

[ChristineRH]

Hi All, Apologies to be chasing. I still really would like to get your suggestion on the topic if I should try get him into the country under the free movement and apply for a residence card or if I should apply for the EEA FP.

Thank you!

[pusched]

I don't think you can apply for for the EEA FP as the non-EEA person would have had to be in the UK for 5 years.

My case, EU citizen living in the UK. Met my non-EU partner abroad and then decided to get married, we applied for a Fiance visa to get married in the UK which was refused so we got married in my home country.

After the ceremony, my partner went back to their home town and we applied for a EEA family permit. This was issued within a couple of weeks or so and valid for 6 months. Can't remember if there was a fee but like £60.

Once in the UK, we applied for a 5 year EEA family permit and this was received in less than 3 months and cost £55 I think. It is slightly more expensive now but nothing like the UK route for the visa.

It is likely you won't be able to get your money back but I would recommend withdrawing the visa and applying for the EEA permit as it is really cheap and I don't think this can be refused unless there are criminal records and other serious violations.

[ChristineRH]

I don't think you can apply for for the EEA FP as the non-EEA person would have had to be in the UK for 5 years.

My case, EU citizen living in the UK. Met my non-EU partner abroad and then decided to get married, we applied for a Fiance visa to get married in the UK which was refused so we got married in my home country.

After the ceremony, my partner went back to their home town and we applied for a EEA family permit. This was issued within a couple of weeks or so and valid for 6 months. Can't remember if there was a fee but like £60.

Once in the UK, we applied for a 5 year EEA family permit and this was received in less than 3 months and cost £55 I think. It is slightly more expensive now but nothing like the UK route for the visa.

It is likely you won't be able to get your money back but I would recommend withdrawing the visa and applying for the EEA permit as it is really cheap and I don't think this can be refused unless there are criminal records and other serious violations.

Thank you pusched. We have withdrawn the application now but are still waiting for the documents to be returned (3weeks already). I was taking to an immigration advisor on the phone who mentioned that I should try and get my husband back into the UK to apply from here for the residence card as the EEA family permit can take over 6 months at the moment. When I researched this further though I found that a lot of airlines dont let passengers on board though without a visa no matter if the spouse is present. I just don't want to make another mistake.

[pusched]

I don't know if you can apply for a EEA family permit from within the UK as we did not do that, only after we got the 6 month one. Perhaps someone else can confirm this if they have been in the same situation.

Regarding to flying together without a visa I don't know if anyone would allow him on the plane without something proving he has the right to enter the UK.

We travel within Europe quite a bit, always together and without a Schengen visa for my partner since we go the EEA family permit but it is very rare when boarding the flight that we don't get asked for a visa and we have to explain the whole thing and then a supervisor has to be called in. Funnily enough we have only ever been asked for the ceremony certificate twice (once when we were already inside the plane). I always travel with it and also a print out of the EEA law regarding family members. Not sure how it would be if you didn't have the family visa on the passport. Sorry can't be of more help, just thought I would share our experience.