Shalom

Hello everyone,

I have question I would like to clarify and I hope you can help me.
We are a family and we live in Luxembourg for the last 17 years. My wife and me worked and lived in Luxembourg all this time.
I’m Israeli married to a British citizen, we have 2 boys age 4 and 7 born in Luxembourg and have a UK passport. I’m the only one holding an Israeli passport.

I have Luxembourgish ID card as a EEA family member and allow to work and stay in Luxembourg as long as I’m married to an EU citizen.
As we want to make a change in our life and move to the UK next to our family and as we've been living in LUX all this years and i already have EEA family member ID card (Luxembourgish) do I need to apply for a EEA family permit or I can travel to the UK and apply directly for a resident card that valid for 5 years?
Normally when I travel to the UK I only need to complete a landing card and I receive a stamp on my passport (valid for 3 months).

As it's really not very clear on the internet, any advice will be very much appreciated.

Many thanks.

englishguygoinghome

The only reason you would need to apply for an EEA permit before entering the UK is in order to be allowed across the border. Even then you must, legally, be given every opportunity to prove that you are the husband of a EU citizen if you turn up without one and they wish to refuse you entry.

Given that you already have experience of entering the UK wihtout any additional paperwork you should be fine to do so again.

The EU rights are different from pretty much any other visa situation whereby you already have a (derived) right of movement and it is not allowed for any government to impose other conditions on it such as the need to obtain prior approval in the form of a permit/visa.

Shalom

Many thanks for your reply englishguygoinghome (Love your name).

Very confusing! as you can see below i found info in one of the immigrations sites. i think i will apply for the EEA family permit, it can’t harm, normally the stamp in my passport good for 3 months with no option to work, the EEA permit good for 6 months. another positive point is that the EEA permit could help for my EEA resident card application in the UK.

IF YOUR FAMILY MEMBER IS AN EU/EEA NATIONAL (but not Croatian):
•If you are an EU national yourself you have the same rights.
•If you are a non-EU national and you are already in the UK: you can apply for an EEA Residence Card. It is for 5 years and allows to work. It takes up to 6 months to process an application and your original passports are held for the whole time. Your EEA family member has to be ‘exercising Treaty rights’, such as working or studying or being self-employed or a jobseeker or retired or self-sufficient.
•If you are a non-EU national, you are outside the UK and you would not normally need a visitor visa to come to the UK (if you are from Australia, Brazil, US, Canada and so on): you can come to the UK without a visa. Once here you can apply for a 5 year EEA Residence Card as above.
•If you are a non-EU national, you are outside the UK and you would normally need a visitor visa to come to the UK (if you are from India, Ukraine, Algeria and so on): you have to apply for an EEA Family Permit at a visa application centre (or British Embassy as applicable). It is issued for 6 months. Once in the UK you can apply for an EEA Residence Card as above.

BritInParis

Since your spouse is a British citizen you'll be entering the UK under the Surinder Singh ruling so applying ahead of time for a EEA Family Permit is a good idea. If you have been residing together in Luxembourg for 17 years it shouldn't be difficult to demonstrate your eligibility.

The other option would be naturalise as a Luxembourgish citizen although this would require you to achieve a certain standard of spoken Luxembourgish language in a formal test.

Shalom

Thanks BritInParis,

you are correct but it's a bit late for me now, we are moving on July this year. any idea how long it takes to issue EEA family permit?

BritInParis

I don't know how quickly you could do it but having invested 17 years in the country it's something I would be seriously considering.

Otherwise an EEA Family Permit will take around 10 days to issue. You'll need to go to Paris to apply for it. Once it is issued you can enter the UK any time within six months. You can then apply for your residence card. This will take around three to six months and you will need to surrender your Israeli passport whilst this happens so ensure you won't need to travel during this time.

Shalom

Ok, so now my EFP application is ready and printed out.
Has anyone had his appointment at the visa office in Paris. If yes can you please explain the procedure and if there are any costs involved? Any information or advice would be very much appreciated.

BritInParis

You'll need to apply online and book an appointment at the Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Paris. This is run by a third party company. The contract has recently changed hands so I have no experience of the new service provider although the centre itself now appears to be located in a far more convenient central location, walking distance from Gare Saint-Lazare.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa

There are no application fees for an EEA Family Permit however you'll need to provide evidence that your British citizen spouse has been exercising her Treaty Rights in Luxembourg and that she has transferred the centre of her life to Luxembourg. As such it's not a normal EEA Family Permit so you'll need to provide the extra evidence.

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/eu-rights-cl...r-singh-route/

Shalom

Many thanks BritInParis,
This is fine, we lived in Luxembourg for 17 years and bought 2 houses, we both worked here all this time and fully documented in the Luxembourgish system. my question is, my appointment is next week and i understood that i need to bring all the supporting documents with me, do i take them back with me after the interview? do they take a copy? or all the documents stay with them?
I think I'm going to drive and have a day out with the family.

The address I've been asked to come is:
67 Rue Saint Lazzare
Paris
75009

BritInParis

They'll take all your supporting documentation from you at the VAC. Your application will be processed down the road at the British consulate in rue d'Anjou. Once it's issued (usually under two weeks) you have to come back to collect it all. There may be an option to have it sent to you instead, not sure about this new VAC.

JAJ

Out of interest, did it not occur to you before now that you might want to become a Luxembourg citizen? It will be at least 5 years (in the U.K.) before you will be able to become a British citizen.

Once you move away from Luxembourg your Permanent Resident status in that country will expire after a period of time. Same goes for your spouse and children. As British citizens they may be able to return to Luxembourg with their British passports - but not necessarily if Britain's EU membership is terminated in future. So a decision not to apply for Luxembourg citizenship may impact them too. As far as I'm aware, Luxembourg has allowed dual citizenship since 2009.

Shalom

Hi JAJ, Originally we came to Luxembourg because my work and i had a contract for 3 years, we never planed to stay here 17 years, in order to have a Luxembourgish passport you need to pass exam in Luxembourgish that its not very easy language to learn (especially for me) we planned to move back to the UK few years ago and this is why i didn't started with this process, recent event in the family in the UK made us re-think our lives here in Lux. We will not come back to Luxembourg.
Concerning the UK and the EU membership, i don't believe that this will effect us. this could only effect the new applications that will be received after this change. i will very much would like and have all the intentions to become a UK citizen. we will move and live mortgage free and can affored good life only with part time jobs. it might sound wierd but i don't believe in getting citizenship in a country i don't want to settle in, it could help but we can reach your golas in different ways. we know for sure that the UK is the place we want to settle.

BritInParis

At least your time in Luxembourg means you can settle in the UK for free. Your only significant outlay in time and money will be when you apply for naturalisation in five years time.

Shalom

No probs. I think it's about 55 GBP, part of the process.
I'm sure 5 years will pass fast, as 17 years just gone here in LUX :-)

Back to my question, does anyone know what will be the peocess with the supporting documents? will they stay there? will they be sent back to me via post?
Or will i get the permit on the same day?

Many thanks.

englishguygoinghome

Hi Shalom,

It's been over 4 years since we last did one of these (which I think was about our 15th!) so things may have got stricter, but they won't be any less strict.

The supporting documents will be sent off with the application and returned with the passport.
You can usually request for the return to be made special devliery, but may have to pay for that or provide a pre-paid envelope - the process keeps changing. Hopefully someone here knows the latest situation
You will need to include:
- Confirmation of the EU citizen's employment dated within the last 30 days
- Confirmation of both of your registration in Luxmebourg dated within the last 30 days
- An original marriage certificate, either an international one, one in english or with official translation
- A copy of the backpage of the EU citizen's passport
- A copy of the EU citizen's residence card, if they have one
- A copy of your residence card, if it's not in your passport