ivor123

Thanks everyone for your input. What an amazing and useful forum.

I am a British Citizen with a South African wife, having been married for 32 years and lived in Poland for the past 2 years. We have successfully applied and received an EEA Family Member visa for my wife which is valid till mid march next year.

My questions.

1. Obviously, one has to move to and be resident in the UK before applying for the 5 year Residence Card. I am unable to find any statistics on the refusal of a residence card. My concern is that we give up our life here in Poland, ( Apartment, Car, Job ), move to the UK and have the residence card refused. Then what ? Is refusal at all likely ? We obviously satisfied the Embassy in order to obtain the visa in the first place.

2. The fact that financial requirements are not an issue with a Surinder Singh application, does one have to submit bank statements, proof of retirement funding etc with the residence card application ?

3. With the current backlog and subsequent wait of about 6 months, I assume that means no travel documents for that period of time, Has anyone successfully obtained their passports back during the application period in order to travel. Possible emergencies come to mind.

4. At what point is health insurance required for my wife. Must proof be submitted with the residence card application. I cannot find any mention on the UK.gov website.

Thanks in advance,

Ivor