Everyone applying for a spouse visa or fiance visa must meet the same requirements no matter what country they are from so if you think people from certain countries have an easier time obtaining a visa for the UK, you are misinformed. As immigration continues to be a topic of concern for all parties, don't expect any sweeping changes after the election.

 

nyclon;

based on what an immigration lawyer told me yesterday, I'm not wrong. Maybe he and I misunderstood each other?? Or maybe I worded my post ambiguously?

Apparently, citizens from any of the other 27 EU countries, plus the EEA countries, plus Switzerland, plus previous/present territories of the Netherlands and France (who are entitled to full passports of either the Netherlands or France) don't have to fulfil the financial requirement. That lawyer showed me the application form that those citizens have to complete. It was only a few pages, and had no questions concerning detailed finances and accommodation situations. Plus, those applications are free of charge and get priority status. My USA born girlfriend and I are looking at an application fee of about £1000.00 plus if we want priority status, it's an extra £300.00.

Apparently, these folks would qualify for an EEA family permit, or something like that.

My girlfriend has a remote chance of getting a Spanish passport, and we are pursuing that avenue. According to that lawyer, as Spain is a member of the EU, then my girlfriend would qualify for the much easier route into the UK.

Apparently, if my girlfriend could get a Spanish passport, then everything would be so much easier. We'd just get married somewhere, and she'd come over here, and we'd live happily ever after. Am I right in saying that if my girlfriend can get a Spanish passport, then there'd be no need to get a spouse visa anyway. Is that right?

I'm curious though, and I'd love to think that my lawyer is wrong, but could you be good enough to provide me some weblinks that would prove him/me wrong?

Many thanks.

 

The EU is different to the USA, the EU has free movement of its citizens. The interesting thing is that you'd probably find it just as hard, if not harder to get into the US

Jo xxx

 

EU citizens can move freely between EU countries. As a UK citizen, you have the have the right to live and work in any other EU country just like any other EU citizen has the right to live and work in the UK. This isn't news. However, as the UK isn't happy with the EU it's entirely possible that it's time in the EU is coming to an end and who knows what that means for EU citizens living in the UK.

jojo is right about moving to the U.S. It comes with it's own challenges and the application process is considerably longer.

 

No your lawyer isn't wrong and citizens of certain overseas territories of EU countries like Guadeloupe (France) are French citizens and are entitled to full rights under EU law.
Getting Spanish passport for your partner will make relocation to UK much simpler.
Now you may have heard about threats by UK to leave EU altogether after the next election, and should that happen, your partner's status even as a Spanish national will become very uncertain and potentially troublesome. It may make her continued stay in UK as difficult as a non-EEA national such as US citizen. So getting Spanish nationality may not solve all the problems.

 

Thank you again everyone,

Like Boris Johnson (!!!!), I have zero desire to live in the US, so that side of things doesn't matter. Fortunately, my California born girlfriend doesn't either, and we're both very happy to live in the UK.

It just seems odd that citizens of places like Aruba/New Caledonia/etc have an easier time bringing their non-EU/EEA/etc family/spouses to the UK than I do. Maybe it's because of those type of situations that plenty of people in the UK are not happy with being in the EU. I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if I, as an English person, received identical treatment to citizens of places like Aruba/etc, but it appears that I'm worse off, due to the £1000.00 or so application fee (compared to free), the 3-4 month waiting time (compared to 2 weeks), the extremely onerous 18 page application form (compared to a few pages), and a £300.00 priority fee (compared to free). Based on all of that, how's it possible NOT to be upset about being in the EU?

Interestingly enough, it doesn't work the other way around, which I thought it was supposed to. For example, I just can't turn up in places like Aruba/New Caledonia etc etc, and just start living and job hunting. I always thought that this sort of thing is supposed to be reciprocal, but that's not the reality.

Anyway, to get back to my original post: is anyone aware of any set of circumstances besides the one I wrote of?

Ta again.

 

This is an EU-wide phenomenon.

For example, if I want to bring a non-EEA spouse into Germany, they have to evidence basic German language skills at the time of visa application and there is no time frame for the application to be decided, not even a "service standard" like in the UK. It takes as long as it takes (often many, many months).

Then, once in Germany, the non-EEA spouse has to complete a compulsory integration course - language and culture - that usually takes about a year.

A British (or Spanish or French or Italian) national bringing a non-EEA spouse to Germany doesn't have to worry about any of this and the initial visa is issued within 15 days.

The same goes for every single country in the EU - strict immigration rules for their own nationals, much laxer EU rules for all other EU nationals coming into the country. You really, really don't want to be Danish and fall in love with a non-EEA national.

 

As already mentioned here, you could try the Spanish citizenship route or you could both settle in another EU country and then try to enter the UK as EU residents but all of those EU routes (never heard of the "provide services to an EU country" route that you mentioned in your original post) have an uncertain future. Looking for a loophole to this process will be timely and most likely lead to disappointment. It's also not worth getting frustrated about the fact that people from elsewhere can move here freely, while British citizens have a hard road returning home with their non-EEA spouses. It's just the reality and there isn't anything that can be done about it. The immigration laws in effect right now are relatively new so hoping for immigration reform will also lead to disappointment. I am American and my husband is English. We just went through this process at the end of last year. You will have to figure out how to meet the, in my opinion, very high financial requirements, which was not easy for us or for a lot of people on this forum. Unfortunately, it's the only foolproof way to move back with your fiancé. Once we came to terms with the terms, we were able to work towards the goal and finally after years of planning, move to England. We did take comfort in the fact that being "stuck" in the US wasn't the worst thing in the world! We made the best of things while there. Try to keep positive and my advice is to not listen to lawyers. This forum has the best advice. No sense in wasting your money!

 

Funny you called out Bonaire...my British spouse and I (US citizen) resided in Bonaire for many years, but when it came time to relocate to the UK, we had to go through the expensive, stressful and time-consuming process so I could join my husband (still going through it actually).

What I'm learning is that had my Dutch neighbors wanted to move to the UK, they could have (apparently) breezed right in. You're right, that doesn't seem fair.

 

Even with the frustration and expense, if I were in your situation, I would proceed with the spouse visa route. Considering the possibility of future EU complications and changes, personally, I would rather know for sure that I could stay without difficulty. Being from the US, I am going through the 5 year program and will be renewing for the first time a year from now. I wish it was a shorter and less expensive process, but that's how it goes.

 

Wow, this stuff is messy.

"In certain circumstances you may benefit from the Directive without having resided in another EU country, for example by providing services in another EU country without having resided there".

Rices: the paragraph immediately above this one is a direct word-for-word quote from a EU publication. I assume it's true. I suppose it's possible that there are alternatives that are not so well known. I shall investigate, and report back when I know more.

I also disagree with you when you say that there's nothing that can be done about it. Just by coincidence, I had a meeting with my MP this morning about something else. He voted for the UK immigration bill that became law in July, 2012. He admitted to me that he hadn't studied it in advance and he wasn't aware of the consequences for UK citizens. He says that he, and many of his colleagues, just voted for it on the advice of the prime minister and the whip. Of course, that doesn't help me right now, but I do know that just sitting around and saying nothing can't be done is the surest way to ensure that nothing is done. As it turns out, I can meet the financial requirements, although it is still highly annoying that this situation exists in the first place. It makes me feel like a second class citizen in my own country. If the Romanian Government carries out its threat and gives citizenship to many Moldovan citizens, it means that those Moldovans will have an easier time bringing their non EU/EEA/etc into the UK than I do. How can I NOT be unhappy about that? It seems like a bad nightmare. I'm not complaining about Moldovans at all. I'm just upset with the situation (who wouldn't be---imagine it in your country).

I don't want to take the Surrinder Singh route.

lizard0924: I'm assuming that although Bonaire citizens have full Dutch passports, and therefore the freedom to come and go into the EU, the situation isn't reciprocated. Apparently, Bonaire isn't, strictly speaking, within the EU. You probably know more about it than I do. It's not independent like Curacao and Aruba, but neither is it fully integrated into the Netherlands, like Guadeloupe and Martinique are fully integrated into France, and are therefore French departments. It sure gets confusing, but one thing I know is this: the snorkelling is first class.

 

lizard0924: I'm assuming that although Bonaire citizens have full Dutch passports, and therefore the freedom to come and go into the EU, the situation isn't reciprocated. Apparently, Bonaire isn't, strictly speaking, within the EU. You probably know more about it than I do. It's not independent like Curacao and Aruba, but neither is it fully integrated into the Netherlands, like Guadeloupe and Martinique are fully integrated into France, and are therefore French departments. It sure gets confusing, but one thing I know is this: the snorkelling is first class.

I really don't know if Bonaire gives special treatment to non-Dutch EU citizens, but I doubt it. They do their own thing there, Caribbean-style. That being said, things are definitely becoming more Dutch-centric since 10/10/10. Either way, my husband is from the Channel Islands, so doesn't have the same freedom of movement benefits of other UK citizens anyway...

...but, yeah, the scuba diving and kitesurfing are also pretty amazing there, too. Would go back in a heartbeat.

 

The Directive you quote isn't incorporated into UK legislation so you can't use it to immigrate. There are a lot of EU rules member countries haven't implemented, and until they are dragged through the EU courts and lose, they can just carry on as before.

 

You can meet the financial requirement and you're complaining? There are many of our forum members who have endured long separations and taken on extra jobs to meet the financial requirement. You should count yourself as fortunate and get on with it.

 

We've been hearing complaints about the conditions applied to British citizens attempting to bring their non EU spouses to the UK since 2012.

The problem is not with the British immigration laws. All countries have immigration laws pertaining to their citizens and also non citizens trying to enter the country; the US has immigration rules too, and it takes a minimum of between 6 and 10 months to get a spouse visa! Just as well you don't want to move there.

The problem is with the EU rules; specifically the freedom of movement and exercising of treaty rights, which practically allows any and everybody to move anywhere. Hence all the movement of citizens of poor countries in the EU to those richer countries.

Since you are in contact with your local MP I would suggest you get him to try and amend the EU rules so Britain can have more control over who enters.

 

It would take me (and any other Canadian living in the UK) almost three years to get a Spousal Visa to bring our spouses to Canada (this is for applications filed in the UK... other locations can (and often do) take longer)... it's a two part application where I have to submit the initial application (currently 2.5 months wait) and then, once that's been approved, my husband's part of the application is submitted for consideration (29 months turn around).

Whilst the trail of hoops that the UKBA wants you to jump through to get your Spousal/Fiancé(e) visa can be long, the actual processing time from start to finish really isn't that long.

 

Ha Ha ncylon. But what I object to is this: I have taken 2 bullets for my country, and once spent an agonising 33 hours stuck in a ditch in Iraq surrounded by bad guys. It simply seems unfair that citizens from a whole bunch of countries and territories, many of them thousands of miles away from here, have an easier, cheaper, and quicker time in bringing their non EU spouses to this country than I do.

Who wouldn't be annoyed?

 

Yes, I've mentioned this to my MP. Alas, he's a backbencher, and although not impossible, it would be a herculean task for him to get anything done. He spent a while explaining how things work to me, and it's all a bit discouraging.

 

Feel free to annoyed. There are citizens from a few small countries who can move to the UK with their non-EU spouses without a visa. There are probably very few who take advantage so it's really not much of an argument.

This thread is closed.