EEA Dependant Ink Stamp - Right to work?

[Slbh]

Hi all

I’m also getting a bit confused by all the information so wonder if anyone can help.

I’m a Dutch citizen and have been living/working in the UK for almost 14 years. Met my Australian boyfriend a year ago in London as he was here on his Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme.

His visa is expiring in less than two months (end July) however, he is planning on leaving the UK at the beginning on July to go to travel around Europe for a bit.
We decided (quite late) that we would like to keep on seeing each other and get married so trying to find a way for him to stay and not have to go back to Australia to do the process

We don’t meet the requirements of living together and with such limited time I understand that my option is for us to apply to a Family visa / Fiancé which will extend his stay for 6 months (it says that it can be done within the UK and we’ll take the express route).

We intend to get married within the 6 months so my question are:
1. From a fiancé visa and once we get married here in the UK can this be changed to a UK resident card or will he have to go to Australia for us to apply to an EEA family permit? Or
2. Once married, should I apply again but now for a Family visa / spouse?

Many thanks

[CR001]

I understand that my option is for us to apply to a Family visa / Fiancé which will extend his stay for 6 months (it says that it can be done within the UK and we’ll take the express route).

You can't apply for this 6 month visa within the UK.

A fiance visa is for marrying in the UK and is an application under the UK immigration rules. As you are an EU citizen (presumably not British as well), you should use the EEA route, which is free or relatively low cost compared to the £1500 UK immigration rules visa.

[Slbh]

Hi CR001

Many thanks for your reply

I thought that would be the case but I got confused as the Gov.uk website says that the partners can also have permanent residence. So as I have been here for 14 years maybe that would apply to me

Thanks again

Your partner must also either:

be a British citizen
have settled in the UK (they have ‘indefinite leave to remain’ or proof of permanent residence)
have refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK

[CR001]

Do you have a DCPR (PR)?

Even so, your partner cannot apply for a fiance visa within the UK. It has to be applied for from Australia.

[Slbh]

No I don't have a DCPR

And thanks again for the clarification on where he needs to apply from

[CR001]

So you would need a Document Certifying Permanent Residence first, providing proof of any 5 continuous years of being a qualified person exercising treaty rights.

[Slbh]

Hi

I'm a Dutch citizen living in the UK for the past 14 years; my Australian husband came into the UK yesterday using the EEA Dependant Ink Stamp figure.

From what I've read so far, I understand that it is better to apply to the Resident card straight away; however, in the meantime does the EEA Dependant Ink stamp entitle him to work? We called home office to ask some questions and the lady that we spoke to said he could not work.

Thanks in advance to anyone that has details or can share their experiences

[tiems]

His right to work is automatic, so yes ‘technically’ he is allowed to work. You won’t find employers willing to hire him, though.

Apply for the residency card ASAP, and within a month you should have a certificate of application confirming right to work. This will be sufficient for employers.

Also Dutch here and my US husband was not able to convince employers of his right to work, as the government has put very high potential fines on this. We quickly applied for the residency card using the European passport return service (so we could both hold on to our passports) and had the CoA confirming right to work within a month. The actual card took 6 weeks in total.

[Slbh]

Hi Tiems

Many thanks for the info,

We will apply for the RC asap