Hailey8

I am a French national, married to a South African who has now British nationality. We got married in the UK and have two young children. I got offered a job in Bologna, starting in April. Regarding immigration, the relocation service of the company who hired me said that it is not possible for my wife and children to come with me at the same time as me. She says we need to register our marriage certificate and the kids' birth certificate to the French authorities, mentioning a family cohesion scheme. The issue we have is that to register that in France, we need a legalised or apostilled copy of my wife's birth certificate. We called the South African embassy in London and they told us it could take up to a year or more to obtain this document. Once we have this, we can send our application to the French Authorities, to register the marriage certificate, and it takes another 6 months. Then, we can register the kids birth certificate, which takes another 2 months.

So this means I could go to Italy in April, leaving my wife and children in the UK for 18 months before they can join me.

We have looked online and we actually don't understand why we have to do what I described above.
According to some webiste on registering non-EU family members in another EU country, it seems that we can all move together to Italy at the same time. Once we move and find a permanent accommodation, within a few weeks, my wife and kids should be able to register to obtain a residence card. "The authorities should make their decision to issue a residence card or not within 6 months. If they do not do so, you can call on our assistance services. In any case, your non-EU family members cannot be expelled if their visa expired while their application is being processed." As they would be one a 3 month "visa", and that we will be in the process of registering, it clearly says that they cannot be expelled while the application is being processed.

Could someone provide clarification on what the process is exactly so we can all move together at the same time? If we can't do that and have to wait for 10, 12,18 months or more, obviously this is a serious issue and goes against this so called family cohesion scheme.

Thank you!

philat98

Those EU rules are not always applied in Italy.
The people in the CGIL office in Bologna will know quite a bit about work permits and immigration. If you explain your situation to them they will probably think of a solution.

SanDiegogirl

Unless there is something very unusual about your situation, YOU as an EU national can move within the EU with your family as per:

All EU citizens and their family members have the right to move and reside freely within the EU. This is set forth in Article 21 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. EU citizenship and the right to free movement are regularly taken into consideration in the judgments of the Court of Justice.

https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/j...20of%20Justice.

The fact you are married to a UK citizen does not make any difference

37100

Your wife and children can travel with you. You apply for residency and then you fill in a kit obtainable from the post office for your wife and children. You will need proof of you relationships, translated and notarized. Once you have these, the easiest way to complete their paperwork is through a CAAF, union run offices that deals with all things bureaucratic. Your Italian employer can direct to one.