Les0606

Hi, After living in Dubai for 38 years my wife and I came to UK in May 2018 using spousal visa for her. All went well and have been happily settled back since then with no regrets. Seeing our 5 year old grandson on a daily basis ensures that. It was only recently, though, when we had decided to catch up with some travel in Europe that I realised that my wife's BRP does not contain the wording that denotes her as the spouse/family member of an EU citizen, or words to that effect. This seemed odd as I am sure I have seen mention of that when other people have written on this even for people that have been married a short time...and we have been married 36 years!.

The fact that this wording is not on the permit makes a whole load of difference to travel arrangements as, if they are not on it, she requires a Schengen visa and seeing as we plan to travel quite a bit over next 2 to 3 years it will be a real hassle.

I have emailed the department that deals with mistakes on BRPs and they eventually replied saying that Home Office says this is correct. Replied asking for some reason why and they again replied saying Home Office says it is correct. But can't fathom out why after we have been married for so long she is not recognised as being a family member. The only thing that I can think of is that seeing as we were approaching Brexit at that time Home Office decided not to include these words on the permits.

Can anyone throw any light onto this? Would appreciate any feedback.

Les0606

johannalouise

What does the BRP say?
My husband is in the UK as my spouse and his BRP says "Spouse/Partner Leave to Remain"
Are you a British citizen?
I'm not an expert but if you are a British citizen & your wife came to the UK under the UK immigration route then she is in the UK as the spouse of a UK citizen.. not an EU citizen.
I think for immigration purposes, a UK citizen in the UK is not an "EU citizen".
Certainly, the type of BRP my husband has that I mentioned above, doesn't give him any right to travel in Europe. We had to apply for a visa for him when we visited Italy this year. While the UK is still in the EU, it is a much easier & cheaper application as when you travel to the EU with your spouse, you are deemed to be an EU citizen travelling with your partner - but your partner still needs a visa for this, it just requires much less effort & information than a normal schengen visa.
Obviously with Brexit this will probably be different.
I'm assuming that your wifes nationality requires a visa to visit Europe usually?
Did you come to the UK under the surinder singh route? I think that's the only way a UK citizen could bring their spouse as an "EU citizen" rather than a "UK citizen"
Again, I am not an expert, but this is my understanding of the difference between having a BRP with/without stating spouse of EU citizen.

Les0606

Johannalouise

Many thanks for taking time to reply. My wife is non eu (Indian) so requires visa usually. It only mentions on her card 'Leave to enter' Not even Spouse/partner as it does on your husband's card. Have you already gone through the second application after 2 and a half years? I am a British citizen. My understanding, though, is that your husband would be OK to travel to EU countries without a visa seeing as the relationship is mentioned on the card. Have been looking at this quite a lot lately as was trying to avoid having to use the processing centres each time we want to travel and looks like she might not get a multiple entry visa unless we have been a few times. But could be wrong as these things tend to be quite complicated.

DaveLovesDee

Unless you've lived with your non-EU spouse and worked (employed or self-employed, studied or been self-sufficient in another EU country (and are able to prove that to the Home Office), your wife's BRP is the correct one. It's not a mistake.

Until you have, you as a Brit are not classed as an EU national for immigration purposes.

Les0606

Hi Both,

Apologies for causing confusion. My mistake in initial post saying that I wondered why it did not mention about EU citizen. I actually meant having something like Johannalouise's husband's card...Spouse/partner. No mention of EU. My wife's doen not have even that despite being married 36 years.

Apologies once again.

BritInParis

To clarify: you are a British citizen and your wife is an Indian citizen? Were you born in the UK? Has your wife always been an Indian citizen? What year did you marry?

Les0606

Hi Britinparis

I am a Brit by birth and my wife has always been an Indian Citizen\passport holder. We married in 1983 and lived in Dubai until May 2018 when we moved here.

Thanks

BritInParis

Slightly odd then. Can you post a picture of the front of the BRP, removing your wife’s photo and name?

Les0606

BritinParis

Message below was for second attempt to post image as requested. Still saying I am not allowed to post URLs but not sure which one I am posting. i think if I post this then that would be 5 posts then hopefully system will allow me to post next time.

Thanks

Had replied to your message after 3 attempts to upload image but then message came up that I am not allowed to post URLs but not sure which URL I was posting. Will try uploading the image once again here. Thanks for the help you are giving. i had seen you all the time when I had browsed the site when we were in process of applying for my wife's visa. A lot of people must be grateful for the help you give.

Les0606

Hopefully system will allow

me to post image now.

BritInParis

The wording is slightly odd but the validity period is correct (33 months). You shouldn’t have a problem when it comes to FLR(M).

Les0606

Thanks, good to know.. In meantime, though,in the short to medium term I will have the irritation of getting visas when travelling to EU and if not corrected at the time FLR(M) even longer term. Do you think it might have something to do with BRPs being issued in lead up to Brexit having different wording? When writing to the agency that deals with this type of issue all I received in reply was 'according to Home Office this is correct' even when asking for some sort of clarification as to why others have the wording even when having married recently and mine has this after 36 years. Really doesn't make sense to me and seems that there is no one that you can actually discuss this with. I noticed when trying to track down a contact number for this department that they closed the dedicated line for this subject a while ago and you can only email. Unfortunately, though, all you get are inane answers with the aim of fobbing you off.

BritInParis

Even the ‘correct’ wording won’t make any difference as to whether your wife requires a visa to visit the continent. Only a British passport will fix that.

Les0606

OK..So I think I was getting confused and thought that UK was part of the EU, at least until October 31st. Not sure why then we are going through the whole process of Brexit if we are not part of it. Let's hope Boris can get his job done asap so we can leave this monstrosity.

Thanks

DaveLovesDee

As I said earlier, you're not an EU national for immigration purposes unless they've lived and worked in another EU member state.

As such, your spouse is here under UK immigration rules, and will be treated as such when applying for visas to EU countries. Brexit or not, it would be exactly the same form minus a few questions to apply for a Schengen visa.