mhuk01

Hello

I am from the UK. My girlfriend is from Hong Kong and we intend to get married in November there. After this we plan to move to Ireland and proceed with the Surinder Singh route, as it seems to be our only option.

My question is can we both come back to the UK first, before relocating to Ireland? She has a BNO passport so being in the UK isn't a problem. I am more concerned about will we be ok going from UK to Ireland, with the immigration officers?

I have plenty more questions on the whole process, but this one is a start!

Thanks.

HKG3

The OP needs to note that a British National (Overseas) passport holder is still subject to UK immigration control, thus an UK immigration officer can refuse a BN(O) passport holder entry to the UK.

For the OP's reference, once your wife gets leave to enter the UK via the Surinder Singh route, your wife, as a BN(O) passport will be treated as a Commonwealth Citizen in the UK. This means that she can -

1) Register to vote in all UK elections (see last point of the link below). This would enable her to be on the electoral register and helps her to build up her own credit history in the UK.

Who can register to vote? | Registering to vote | Coventry City Council

2) She can gain British Citizenship via registration using form B(OTA) which is a bit cheaper than naturalisation (£913 for registration vs £1005 for naturalisation)

3) As a Commonwealth Citizen, she can apply for UK civil service jobs.

Just a note to the OP, the SS route may not be the only way for you and your girlfriend. As a Commonwealth Citizen, my understanding is that she can join the HM Forces without a work permit and can get ILR after 4 years' service (see part 3).

https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/h...ibility-check/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigrat...x-armed-forces

mhuk01

I am now more confused. So to clarify, we can get married in Hong Kong and come back to the UK (with an onward ticket to Ireland a few weeks later, to show to immigration in the UK that she is just visiting). Why would she be denied entry to the UK?

And then from the UK we can goto Ireland for me to exercise treaty rights? Am I reading correctly that by holding a BNO passport it changes how we need to do things?

BritInParis

HKG3 was making the point that merely holding a BN(O) passport guarantees your fiancée's entry to the UK which it doesn't. She may not need to apply for a visa in advance but she'll still need to demonstrate that she is a genuine visitor to the UK at the border and will be leaving within six months.

If you enter Ireland via the UK then she will not receive an entry stamp in her passport from the Irish authorities thanks to the Common Travel Area which can cause problems when applying for EU residence status in Ireland.

not2old

Good pointers as well as the response to your OP, to add...

If it was me, I would go to Ireland first to exercise the treaty rights for your wife. Once she gets her Ireland residence card etc, go from there.

Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service EU Treaty Rights

Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service EU Treaty Rights

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Form%...Form%20EU1.pdf

mhuk01

Thank you for the links. So if we get married in HK, then both go straight from HK to Ireland we will be able to enter with the understanding that I am exercising my treaty rights. Would we be able to, for example, goto the UK to see family over Christmas? We would hopefully by then have been able to get a job for me and began the paperwork process for my then HK wife.

mhuk01

Does this mean even if we are passing through LHR, and have to go through immigration due to collecting our bags to take to the next flight? So what you are saying is she needs a stamp when arriving in Ireland, which they will only give to her if she has come from HK, not the UK? I'm just trying to understand exactly where the potential pitfalls are to all of this. Thank you all for your help so far, it's been invaluable.

BritInParis

If you enter the Common Travel Area then you will only receive a stamp in your passport from the country in which you first arrive. If you land at LHR and then catch a connecting flight to Republic of Ireland, whether directly or several weeks afterwards, your then-wife won't receive an Irish immigration stamp in her passport as there are no border controls between the UK and the RoI. Better to leave the Common Travel Area and enter the RoI from there.

mhuk01

So in other words I need to find a flight from HKG to Ireland which doesn't go via a 'Common Travel Area'?

BritInParis

Or come to the UK as planned and then leave the CTA and re-enter the CTA by landing in the RoI. Not sure where you will be in the UK but a Eurostar trip to Paris followed by a flight to Dublin would be one such route.

NB: Most non-British European border officers treat BN(O) passport holders as EU citizens when they are not. Make sure that your wife gets her passport stamped when entering and leaving the EU (e.g. France) and stamped again when entering the RoI for the first time otherwise it will have been a wasted trip.

HKG3

If you read the first part of my post, I did say that BN(O) passport holders are subject to UK immigration control and they can be refused entry to the UK.

At the end of my post, I stated that according to my understanding, BN(O) passport holders are treated as Commonwealth citizen in the UK and therefore can join HM Forces (subject to conditions). My understanding is that people joining HM Forces are not subject to UK immigration control.

BritInParis

My mistake, read my post again and insert a 'doesn't' before guarantee - I was agreeing with you even if my typo wasn't!

HKG3

You may want to consider travelling from Hong Kong to Dublin via Dubai as Emirates flies to Dublin airport.

https://www.dublinairport.com/gns/fl...t-details.aspx