Three month wait for the EEA family permit application?

[saradenovic]

Hi everyone,

I have a question to which nobody managed to give me a straightforward answer to:

My husband is an EU national working in the UK since beginning of March 2018. I am a Serbian (non-EU) national. We've been married since July 2017. We lived together in Germany (where I still live and work on my work visa - not connected to his nationality or our marriage). Can I apply for the EEA family permit already now (in May) or do I have to wait for three months to pass in order to apply? Did anyone have a similar situation?

One immigration lawyer told me that my husband will be considered a qualified person only after he's been working in the UK for three months and I am therefore not allowed to apply before. But I couldn't find this information anywhere on the website and when I asked her where is this stated, in which official document, she didn't know. Does someone on this forum have an answer to this?

Thanks in advance!
Best
Sara

[alterhase58]

If an immigration lawyer can't tell you where things are stated one shouldn't bother with them.
Have a look here:
https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/eligibility

Applying as a family member or extended family member
The EEA citizen you’re joining must either:

be in the UK already
be travelling with you to the UK within 6 months of the date of your application
If they’ve been in the UK for more than 3 months they must either:

be a ‘qualified person’ (working, looking for work, self-employed, studying or self-sufficient)
have a permanent right of residence

My reading of this is as your husband is already exercising treaty rights you can apply now.

[thsths]

I might suggest that you check this for yourself, because this is exactly the wrong way around.

Any EEA national is a qualifying person from day 1, but after three months, you need to have found work, study, by self sufficient, or demonstrate that you are still realistically looking for a job. So by that logic, you could apply any time, and you could in fact have come with your husband (although processing times can vary quite a bit).

[saradenovic]

Thank you both!

This was my understanding as well, but then the lawyer confused me. I think I will apply now, because he has a job, has an apartment - I really don't see why would I wait..

[ENM]

Hi

How did your application go?
Thanks
Regards