Article 10 Residence Card

[Jimmy James]

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum so please forgive me if this has been answered before or I am posting in the wrong place.

I have heard a lot about an EEA Family Permit via the Surinder Singh route for British Citizens living with their non EU spouse in an EU country.

I am British and my wife is Ukrainian, I have been living and working along with my wife in Cyprus for the past two years. My wife has a Cyprus residence card which we have already been told is an article 10 residence card because it was issued in Cyprus under EU law (family member of a union citizen).

However, my question is can my wife use her passport along with her article 10 card to travel to the UK with me for a short visit without having to obtain a visa or family permit?. We are planning to visit family in London for two weeks and then return to our our home in Cyprus. We have all other documents i.e marriage certificate, rental agreement, proof of employment and living here together etc...

I am confused because I have sought legal advice, and the first lawyer told me to still apply for an EEA family permit to avoid being denied entry at the UK border. I then was advised by another lawyer that an article 10 card is now sufficient for short visits and just to have other documents proving relationship just in case, but no need for an EEA family permit.

I understand an EEA family permit is free and we have all the documents so we can just apply to avoid any problems, but I just want to know if anyone can clarify if the UK now fully accepts article 10 cards for short visits or if anyone has had any personal experience of trying to use this card to enter the UK, any help or information would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the long post and I appreciate people cannot give legal advice here, but as you see we have already been told different things by immigration lawyers.

Hope for some help, thanks a lot.

James

[thobson]

I'm in a very similar position to you, I'm British, living and working in Germany with my Russian wife who holds an article 10 residency card. We've now been to the UK a couple of times using only the residency card. We've had no issues at the UK border. On both occasions we flew into Manchester and the immigration officers were great. My wife did need to fill in a landing card and we showed them her residency card. To be honest the only thing they asked was "are we married?" and "do we live in Germany together?" We didn't need to show any marriage certificates, proof of employment or anything like that. My wife got a special stamp which is something like "admitted under the EEA regulations 2006 - no time limit". The officer told us my wife basically has full EU freedom of movement rights in the UK. Of course your experience may be different and you won't get the warm northern welcome at a London airport but in any event the law is very much on your side.

Whilst the immigration officers were great, the biggest challenge you will face is trying to get onto the plane in the first place. At the gate the airline staff will want to see your wife's UK visa and will probably refuse (at least initially) to let her on without a valid UK visa. The whole EEA family permit is a bit of a corner case, especially for UK ex-pats and the airline staff just don't know this rule. To be fair to them, it's pretty suspicious to say "I don't need a UK visa as I have a Cypriot/German residency card". You will need to stand your ground and explain the rules. I recommend you print off the rules about entering the UK with an article 10 card. I would also take your marriage certificate with you because the article 10 card probably doesn't state the name of the EEA spouse (ours doesn't) and your wife should be traveling with you or joining you. i.e. you need to prove the person holding her hand in the airport is actually her husband! One Easyjet guy did know the rules and he wanted to see our marriage certificate and also details of my wife's return flight. I'm not sure the flight details are strictly necessary but we had them anyway.

My advice would be to go to the airport gate in good time. You may also be able to get your boarding pass stamped at customer services before reaching the gate. Good luck!

[Obie]

means a valid document called a “Residence card of a family member of a Union Citizen” issued under Article 10 of Council Directive 2004/38/EC(5) (as applied, where relevant, by the EEA agreement) by any EEA State (except Switzerland) to a non-EEA family member of an EEA national as proof of the holder’s right of residence in that State;

Also see Regulation 11

[Manosdaria]

https://ibb.co/fW9bEJ

Hello i want to ask if that is an article 10.
I am British/Cypriot. I borned and live in cyprus.
Now i live three months now in UK. And i want to flight next week with my wife. My wife is from ukraine. We will flight with our son 9 months old. We dont know if accepted the permit. I hold british and cypriot passport my son also cypriot passport. We need for apply for visa. Is the permit.on photo article 10 or 20 ? Thanks a lot

[BritishExpat]

https://ibb.co/fW9bEJ

Hello i want to ask if that is an article 10.
I am British/Cypriot. I borned and live in cyprus.
Now i live three months now in UK. And i want to flight next week with my wife. My wife is from ukraine. We will flight with our son 9 months old. We dont know if accepted the permit. I hold british and cypriot passport my son also cypriot passport. We need for apply for visa. Is the permit.on photo article 10 or 20 ? Thanks a lot

Hello
Hope the below matter helps

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... dence-card

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/intern ... 320068.htm

Latest Travel Document News from IATA


Family Member Residence Cards - travelling to the United Kingdom
15 August 2018

If you are a non-EEA family member of an EEA* national, you must meet the following conditions to enter the United Kingdom without a visa:

1. please make sure that your residence card has an English text " Permanent Residence Card of a Famliy Member of a Union Citizen" or a "Residence Card of a Family Member of a Union Citizen",
2. if your residence card is issued by Ireland (Rep.) it must contain a stamp "4EUFam",
3. you must travel with or travel to join the EEA family member.

*EEA- European Economic Area (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Rep.), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom).

[mmtdrsn]

I'm in a very similar position to you, I'm British, living and working in Germany with my Russian wife who holds an article 10 residency card. We've now been to the UK a couple of times using only the residency card. We've had no issues at the UK border. On both occasions we flew into Manchester and the immigration officers were great. My wife did need to fill in a landing card and we showed them her residency card. To be honest the only thing they asked was "are we married?" and "do we live in Germany together?" We didn't need to show any marriage certificates, proof of employment or anything like that. My wife got a special stamp which is something like "admitted under the EEA regulations 2006 - no time limit". The officer told us my wife basically has full EU freedom of movement rights in the UK. Of course your experience may be different and you won't get the warm northern welcome at a London airport but in any event the law is very much on your side.

Whilst the immigration officers were great, the biggest challenge you will face is trying to get onto the plane in the first place. At the gate the airline staff will want to see your wife's UK visa and will probably refuse (at least initially) to let her on without a valid UK visa. The whole EEA family permit is a bit of a corner case, especially for UK ex-pats and the airline staff just don't know this rule. To be fair to them, it's pretty suspicious to say "I don't need a UK visa as I have a Cypriot/German residency card". You will need to stand your ground and explain the rules. I recommend you print off the rules about entering the UK with an article 10 card. I would also take your marriage certificate with you because the article 10 card probably doesn't state the name of the EEA spouse (ours doesn't) and your wife should be traveling with you or joining you. i.e. you need to prove the person holding her hand in the airport is actually her husband! One Easyjet guy did know the rules and he wanted to see our marriage certificate and also details of my wife's return flight. I'm not sure the flight details are strictly necessary but we had them anyway.

My advice would be to go to the airport gate in good time. You may also be able to get your boarding pass stamped at customer services before reaching the gate. Good luck!

Hi, this is exactly the situation I am in and I am flying with Ryanair this Friday to the UK so have been worrying a lot: I am Turkish, married to a British and we both live and work in Germany. I hold a Article 10 Residence card though it does not say the wording "Family Member of an EU Citizen" in English but in German. it's not a biometric snazzy card, it's just a flimsy long piece of paper but it does say the above in German. So essentially it's the correct Article 10 Residence card.

Do you think this will be a problem for UK officer that my card doesn't say anything in English? I have printed all the guidelines and will take everything with us and I am well prepared to take this to the court if they deny my boarding because I have every right and we are just visiting. Just because bloody ryanair doesn't know the rules, I won't let it go.

Thank you

[Richard W]

Hi, this is exactly the situation I am in and I am flying with Ryanair this Friday to the UK so have been worrying a lot: I am Turkish, married to a British and we both live and work in Germany. I hold a Article 10 Residence card though it does not say the wording "Family Member of an EU Citizen" in English but in German. it's not a biometric snazzy card, it's just a flimsy long piece of paper but it does say the above in German. So essentially it's the correct Article 10 Residence card.

Do you think this will be a problem for UK officer that my card doesn't say anything in English? I have printed all the guidelines and will take everything with us and I am well prepared to take this to the court if they deny my boarding because I have every right and we are just visiting. Just because bloody ryanair doesn't know the rules, I won't let it go.

Do let us know how you got on. The problem is boarding, not entering the UK once you reach UK Immigration.

[Bouba1985]

Hello Jimmy James.


I have a just 2 question & I hope to get some advice from you.
1.when u apply for residence card (article 10) is entry Visa required?
2.can spouse of eu citizen apply for Visa at the border in Nicosia?
I'm third country national who's Visa required to Cyprus.
Me und my Irish-British wife we thinking to go to Cyprus and apply for residence card for,& we need some advice please.
To visa at border it's because I'm not Visa required to northern Cyprus.
Thanks in advance Jimmy

[CR001]

Hello Jimmy James.


I have a just 2 question & I hope to get some advice from you.
1.when u apply for residence card (article 10) is entry Visa required?
2.can spouse of eu citizen apply for Visa at the border in Nicosia?
I'm third country national who's Visa required to Cyprus.
Me und my Irish-British wife we thinking to go to Cyprus and apply for residence card for,& we need some advice please.
To visa at border it's because I'm not Visa required to northern Cyprus.
Thanks in advance Jimmy

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