EEA permit - sponsor working abroad

[penorta]

Hi all,

I am an EEA citizen, married to a non-EEA citizen for >2 years.
We have been living in the UK for ~3 years together, my wife has been on an EEA family permit for ~2 years (first year on study permit).

I am now about to start employment in Switzerland, but plan on retaining my residency in the UK and return here every week for the weekend + 1 day work (for the Switzerland employer, in their UK office).

My wife is currently employed as per the EEA family permit and would like to continue her employment and stay in the UK.

I have identified the following guideline on which I would appreciate clarification:

Annex A - Immigration (EEA) Regulation 2006 (link: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary)

“Worker or self-employed person who has ceased activityâ€

[86ti]

Personally I believe you can be a cross-border worker (that's what you want to become) at any time. The UKBA may see that differently.

I think you have to read section 5 together with section 15. What those sections refer to is that a person becoming a cross-border worker as per 4.(b) does not only retain residence rights but also becomes a permanent residence and this also includes the non-EEA family member (though it is not clear to me if there are additional conditions for them regards the period of residence, etc. ). This is actually quite an attractive provision. But the text also says "at least three years" and I would expect the UKBA to be here ultra-correct. My suggestion would be to stick to that minimum three years rule by any means. Your timeline suggests that it would actually be 3 years and two months.

[penorta]

Thanks for the quick response.

I understand you are refering to 15.(1).(c), which states that a "worker or self-employed person who has ceased activity" may obtain permanent residency.

My question however though is, do I qualify as one of those?
By the time I have terminated my job, I would have been employed 2 years and 10/11 months (just short of 3 years), but will remain in the UK. My total stay in the UK will thus be >3 years, out of which a few as "in between jobs".

I would like to clarify whether the paragraph (5) as posted above provides an exception to this, i.e. does my 2 years and 10 months in the UK + new employment in the EEA state acount as >3 years?

[86ti]

To repeat myself:

But the text also says "at least three years" and I would expect the UKBA to be here ultra-correct. My suggestion would be to stick to that minimum three years rule by any means.

Is there any reason why you can't just stay in your current job for that little longer? You may be risking a lot here.

[penorta]

In the worst case yes, I could somehow work this out but timing between old / new job is very tricky. I am therefore exploring alternatives.

Should the above not hold for me under the circumstances that I can not extend >3 years, would I be able to qualify as self-sufficient person?
I understand this relies on being able to provide sufficient funds as well as comprehensive health insurance, which certainly I can obtain.

[86ti]

Yes, I understand (5) above exactly as I said in my very first sentence and from the pure legal point of view I think you should be fine. Of course, you would have to qualify as a self-sufficient person in case you cannot claim permanent residence. But I still believe that would be a bad choice. If your wife really qualifies for PR too she would obviously obtain that status in her own right and thus her status would become independent from yours. If she intents to naturalise she also could do that earlier (one year I believe).

[penorta]

Thank you very much for your help.
It sounds as if the best route would be to push my current employment to last a bit longer to achieve the full 3 years.

You mentioned that you expect the border agency to be very strict on this one. Do you base this on experience, or could one argue for accepting 2 years and 11 months as well with chances to succeed?

One last clarification: Would I be able to claim self-sufficiency even though I would be in the UK only for weekends + 1 weekday per week? I saw some other regulation that required >180 days presence in the country.

[86ti]

No, I am not talking from experience but the letters of the law are very clear. Why would you think that the UKBA would exercise discretion (assuming they could)? I would not speculate on that.

You will be a cross-border worker. Obviously such a worker is not expected to be present in the country for more than half of the year as per 4.(a) above. The only requirement seems to be that you regularly and at least once per week return but not how long you then actually stay.

You are self-sufficient in the case you do not have an income and pay taxes/NI in the UK. That's a good question actually. There should be bilateral agreements between the UK and Switzerlands regarding double taxation. You will have to work that out too. I haven't got a clue about that.